


Scarlet Cross

by lottielovebuzz



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Demons, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Femslash, Femslash Minibang, Graphic Description, Graphic description of torture, Heavy Angst, Hell, Hunters & Hunting, Jo in Hell, Major Character Injury, Mention of Character Death, Mind Control, Minor Character Death, Multimedia, Multimedia Content, Psychological Torture, Sexual Content, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2014-09-03
Packaged: 2018-02-16 00:51:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 53,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2249757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lottielovebuzz/pseuds/lottielovebuzz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Anna is captured by the angels, and forced into jail for "retraining" or torture, depending on who you ask, she doesn't believe she'll ever get out. However, one day, when the apocalypse has come and gone, the rise of the leviathans and their subsequent fall, and the angels nearly being expelled from heaven, they come to her. She'll be free to leave her prison and considered obedient once more, if she goes to hell - alone - and rescues a soul. A soul that just happens to be that of Jo Harvelle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sacred Sins

**Author's Note:**

> so, this was written for the [spn femslash mini bang](http://spnfemminibang.livejournal.com/) which is an amazing thing that I am so happy to have been a part of!! 
> 
> The title comes from the song "Scarlet" by In This Moment. It was also the song that inspired this fic and I HIGHLY suggest listening to it before or during or after reading this, because it'll just set the mood or continue it or whatever. Though, saying that, I have made a playlist here with songs that helped me write this and get me in the mood for it!! :D
> 
> It was beta'd by my amazing friend [Tiana](http://t-hiddys-diddly.tumblr.com), who is amazing in every way. 
> 
> The art masterpost is [here](http://capricorn-child.livejournal.com/540.html) but they will also be posted throughout the fic. They were made by the lovely [Sarah](http://capricorn-child.tumblr.com) and I highly recommend going telling her what an AMAZING job she did!!!

She never thought being killed by a Hellhound would automatically mark her soul for Hell. She thought everything she ever did, all the monsters she killed, all the lives she saved by the single act of taking her life, would certainly help save her soul and grant her a place in Heaven.

So, maybe that's why it shocks her when she finds herself within the pits that she fought so hard to stop from taking over the world. She wasn't necessarily ready to _die_ ; that'd definitely be an overstatement, but she was prepared to die to give Sam and Dean a chance to get to the Devil and shoot the bastard with the Colt.

Faith was something she never really thought about. There were monsters that hurt people; there were hunters that killed those monsters. She never really gave God or faith a thought. Even when she met Castiel, an actual angel of the Lord.

But then when she was lying in her mother's arms, guts pouring out of her stomach, and barely even able to tell her mother that she loved her, well, she started hoping there was a special place in Heaven for her… thought she deserved _some_ sort of reward for everything she had ever done, despite not being the most "faithful" of people. 

It's maybe why it had hurt so much when the smell of sulphur clogged her nostrils, when black smoke was the only thing she could see at first, when the putrid stench of rotten flesh and fire seeped through the smell of rotten eggs, making her eyes water. 

Her hands twitch, desperately trying to wipe away the instant reaction to the horrible smell, but it's then she realises she's restrained. Large, metal shackles encircle her wrists, painfully tight and biting into her skin; blood already trickles down over her wrist, trailing down her arms in a long thin line of crimson. She feels the same feeling restraining her feet, stopping her from kicking out and trying to break free. Her back is rigid, pressed tight against a damp, cold wall… why are the walls in Hell so cold? 

Fire and brimstone is what it's supposed to be famous for, why are the manacles, the walls, the _air_ surrounding her so cold? 

Her hands tug against her restraints, feet trying to lash out but she gets nowhere. If anything, the hold they have on her becomes tighter; the chains that are attached to the wall become shorter, pulling her back in a much more painful and vulnerable position. 

A sob chokes her when she realises that she didn't even get to finish saying "I love you" to her mom; she didn't detonate the bomb; she didn't kill those Hellhounds. Her mother did. Her mother did all of that by herself. Her mom is gone and it’s all because of her. 

Is she in Hell too? Or did she get a place in Heaven? She deserves a place in Heaven. Her mom was definitely the most kindest, loving person to ever grace the earth. Sure, they had their differences; sure, she wanted to get away to become a hunter and not live in the Roadhouse all her life, but it was just the way her mother raised her. She wasn't raised to be a weak little girl, taking "no" for an answer. Her mother should've realised that lecture of "not giving up on what you want" would've come back to bite her in the ass. 

She wants to scream for help, hope someone is about that can help her, can _save_ her. Dean got saved from Hell; maybe an angel was looking after her too? Maybe there was a purpose in her going to Hell? Maybe she's here for another reason other than being dragged by a Hellhound. 

Oh, who is she kidding? Dean's the "Righteous Man"; the man destined to stop Lucifer and the Apocalypse. What was she? A little girl who's only goal was to be as brave as her father. 

Well, her "bravery" got her ripped to shreds by a Hellhound, blown up when her mother detonated their bomb, and landed her with a oneway ticket to Hell. 

' _Mommy_.' She chokes on her sob, her hands clenching and unclenching, trying to find something to hold, to pull; trying to ease the pain from the cold metal digging into her wrists. She wants to wake up; wants to be told it was just a horrible, vivid nightmare. She wants her mother to hold her tight; wants Dean to tell her to "toughen up". She wants to get out of Hell. She doesn't deserve this. 

'Mommy dearest is down the hall, sweetie.' A cold, harsh voice sounds, but as she looks around herself, trying to find the source of the voice, she can see nothing. 'Be sure to scream loud enough, Joanna Beth, I'm sure she'll want to hear you.' 

Jo weakly shakes her head, ignoring the words the demon hisses in her ear. She's not going to scream. She's not going to give anyone the satisfaction, and if her mom really is down the hall, she's not going to let her hear her daughter scream.

Suddenly, a face appears in front of her; there's probably more to this face - hair, lines, mouth, but all she can see, all Jo can concentrate on, is two black eyes staring into her own. Bottomless; emotionless. She's used to staring into the eyes of demons, has done it plenty of times before, but this… this is different. She's never been chained up by one; never had one crowding into her personal space in such a way that has her turning in on herself, pressing further into the wall behind her, no matter how painful it is having the sharp edges pressing into her spine. 

Jo goes to turn her head away, break contact from the sight of the demon standing far too close to her and crowding in on her personal space, but the second her neck twitches, the demon's hands reach up with fingers pressing painfully into the hollows of her cheeks, forcing her face to remain facing forward. 

'No, no, darling, that's not how this is going to work. You're going to watch, and you're going to _scream_.' 

'Go to Hell,' Jo sneers, only because it's the first comeback she can think of. As soon as it breaks free from her lips, coming out rather muffled from the grasp the demon still has on her, she realises her mistake. She wants to close her eyes and sigh at her sheer _stupidity_ , but instead, she keeps her brown eyes on the demon, narrowing them as the damn thing chuckles.

'Oh, honey, I'm already here, and so are you.' The demon's lips quirk into a grin. 'And we're going to have _so much fun_.' 

'Don't "honey" me, you black-eyed bitch.' Jo snaps, her hands finally falling still. The pain she once felt has suddenly stopped, disappeared with all feeling in her fingertips. She's tempted to check if they're still connected to her body, finding it rather unsettling that the feeling is gone completely, but that would mean tearing her eyes off this thing and she wasn't about to do that. 'I'm stronger than I look; you're not gonna make me scream.' 

The demon grins, 'If I call you by "Jo" only, do I get granted the same treatment? Do I get called my name instead of "black-eyed bitch"? If so, I'll allow that, _Joanna_.' 

Jo grinds her teeth together. She hates being called Joanna by her mother, let alone by some stuck-up demon intent on making her scream. However, if there's one thing she hates more than "Joanna", it's ridiculous pet names that some hunters bestowed upon her, so, with this in mind, she reluctantly nods her head. One jerky nod that has the demon chuckling again. 

'Good. Name's Amy. Nice to meet you.'  

Amy turns away from Jo then, moving over to the door that Jo didn't even notice before. 

'Where are you going?' Jo asks, not trusting the fact she's leaving her. Why would she leave her? She's tied up and unable to move. This would be the perfect time to "make her scream". 

'Aw, you gonna miss me?' Amy enquires with a teasing smirk on her face, black eyes trailing over Jo's face, down her neck, and then following the trail of blood up to her wrists, which were still encased in large, metal manacles. She frowns for a second, before she waves her hand at Jo, who flinches, expecting some pain from the movement. 

Instead, she crumples to the ground, landing on the stone floor with a thud and a small cry. Blood painfully rushes back to her hands, and she can do nothing to soothe the feeling, other than cradle each of her hands in her grasp. 

'Believe it or not, Jo, Hell isn't only about torturing its souls.' Amy explains, before she winks at Jo and disappears through the door, leaving Jo alone. 

Jo wants to stand, wants to rush after her, because that's _all_ Hell is supposed to be about. It's what parents and priests and _God_ uses against their children to stop them from doing wrong; to stop them from sinning. However, her feet are still painful from being restrained, her hands are still tingling from being let loose and instead of rushing after her, she curls in on herself. 

She pulls her legs up so she can rest her head on her knees, clasping her arms around her legs, mindful of her still sore and tender wrists. The bleeding has stopped, which is something, but it's not like she can _die_ from blood loss. She's already dead. If the blood had to gush from her wrists like a fountain, nothing would happen. It’d be painful, sure, and no doubt scary to watch, but it's not like she could pass out or _die_. 

She bites her lower lip, wondering why the hell Amy let her down from her chains. 

Dean hadn't told her anything about his time in Hell, but she had witnessed a change in the way he acted to know it affected him in a way he couldn't hide. He was normally so forward, but even his proposition to enjoy their "last night on earth together" was weak. 

She scoffs. She wish she had accepted the offer now. Maybe then she'd have happy thoughts to dwell on, instead of thinking about how or why she ended up in Hell. 

Are Dean and Sam grieving her? What about Castiel? She liked him. Sure, she didn't really know him as well as she knew the Winchesters, but a man that can hold nearly ten shots of tequila without _any_ side effects was pretty damn awesome in her books. 

She shuffles backwards until her back is pressed up against the wall, despite how painful it is, having sharp edges of brick press into every knob of her spine. She readjusts her body, finding a better position for her to rest her head on top of her knees, before she closes her eyes. 

She discovers soon after that dreaming is still a thing in Hell. 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Time is different in Hell. 

Everything seems to go by so much quicker, whilst at the same time, slowing down almost painfully. 

She's lost track with how long she's been here. Amy doesn't tell her anything. Well, nothing that'll help her try and figure that out. Maybe it's been ten years? No, that's not long enough. She's been in here for so much longer than that. 

It's funny. Ten years always seemed like an eternity to her when she was alive. Ten years was the impossible length. She was twenty-years-old when she found herself being ripped to shreds by a Hellhound - something she's had to relive over and over again, thanks to her darling Amy - but ten years was just too long up in the "real" world, where people are still smiling and living and breathing. 

Ten years when she was there was painful. Ten years and she'd be thirty, and she would've moved away from Harvelle's Roadhouse. She would've been a hunter and her mom could've done nothing about it. 

It seemed like a lifetime away, then.

Now, ten years is like an hour. It's gone before you even know where you're at. 

She definitely hasn't been here for _just_ ten years. 

She remembers Dean saying something about his time in Hell. It wasn't much. He didn't talk about it. But he was only gone for four months, but he said something about it feeling like _forty years_ down in Hell. Every month is like ten years, she realises. 

She's been gone for longer than a month. She knows that for certain.

Amy had told her Bobby Singer was dead. Jo thought she was joking. She realised that's Amy's favourite kind of torture. She doesn't like to get her hands dirty; instead, she likes to sit back, plant a seed and watch it spiral out of control in Jo's mind. 

She's screamed at walls. She thrown herself at them and broke her hands before to desperately try to get out of her confines. She's been curled into a ball, rocking back and forth as she cries and wails. She's done a lot of things, and all because Amy said something - a passing comment that rooted itself in Jo's mind - and drove her out of her wits. 

And when it's gone on for so long, when she's thinking she's going to _die_ again, when she's wishing she _could_ die again, that's when Amy comes back, waves her hand and fixes Jo's wounds; settles her mind and lulls her to sleep. 

Jo dreams in those times. She dreams of her father, of her mother, of her time with Dean and Sam and even her time with Gordon. But it's always over too quick. She always finds herself waking to the sight of Amy's dark eyes, her plump lips smiling down at her, and telling her something else that has her spiralling out of control. 

She's woke up to the sound of Amy's chuckle; that dark, throaty laugh that sends shivers down Jo's spine in the worst way possible. Amy's never in the room with her when she wakes up like that, bolting upright and wishing she had that amazing knife of Dean's that could kill demons. She'd enjoy running Amy through. 

'My, my, my,' Amy drawls, suddenly appearing in front of Jo, who jerks upright. Her hands clamber along the floor, trying to find purchase to push her into a standing position. Her legs are weak, shaking as she stands upright, but she needs to be strong. That's how you beat demons, right? You stay strong. 

'What?' Jo growls, head held high despite the fact her legs twitch to collapse, and her whole body screams at her to curl in on herself, protect herself from the only thing she ever sees. 

'You have no idea who I just saw, my dear Joanna.' Amy retorts, ignoring the venom in Jo's voice. She knows it's nothing to worry about; knows she can make it disappear with either a simple word, or a flick of her wrist. 'The Boy King - the one that was destined to lead us into the Apocalypse. Sam Winchester.'

'No…' Jo shakes her head. Sam's not dead. He can't be… and even then, he can't be in Hell. He's a kind soul, his heart's always - only - in the right place. He doesn't deserve this. Not Sam… not Sam.

'Relax, he's not dead. And anyway, I thought it was his brother you were in love with? No? Oh well,' Amy shrugs. 'He was rescuing Bobby Singer's soul. Apparently they're trying to close the Gates of Hell. Y'know what that means, don't you?' 

Jo doesn't say anything, but she's sure she feels her neck twitch, her head shake in the tiniest way that answers her question. No, she doesn't know what that means and she doesn't really want to find out. Surely, it can only be a bad thing. That's the only reason Amy visits her. To tell her the information that leads to her breaking herself into tiny pieces for Amy to put back together again. 

'They don't care about you. Think about it, do you think they'd _really_ close the Gates of Hell if they cared about you? They're going to slam that door shut on your pretty little face and throw away the key. Why rescue Bobby Singer's soul when they could've rescued yours? Face it, Joanna, they don't give a damn about you anymore; they probably never cared about you. Their darling angel fought his way through Hell _twice_. Once for Dean and once for Sam, and not once did they stop to think about you.'

'Shut up.' Jo whispers, finding her hands clenching into fists. She's tempted to throw herself at the demon, wrestle it to the ground, and drive her fist into its stupid face over and over again, until there's blood spattering her hand, and there's a bone or two broken in her fist.

'I wouldn't be surprised if they thought about your mommy; wouldn't be surprised if they come back to save her. And who’s to bet that the second your mommy dearest was free, she wouldn't even think about you? In fact, she'd probably start throwing a party; finally rid of her pitiful excuse of a daughter. She tells me she wonders how you're hers.'

'Shut up.' 

'She wonders if you're even your _father's_. You're nothing like him, are you? He was this strong, trusting, brave hunter, and what are you? Weak; the damsel in distress. He's probably up in Heaven, looking down on you in shame.' 

'I said _shut up!_ ' Jo roars before she lunges for Amy, hands coming up ready to wrap around her neck. 

However, the second her fingers are ready to wrap around the soft flesh, Amy is suddenly gone, and Jo finds herself lying flat on the ground, knees, hands and elbows scraped and bloody from supporting her fall. 

She groans as she manages to lift her head, finding Amy standing behind her, a taunting smile on her face. Jo can feel blood trickle down over her chin and when her tongue darts out to lick her lips, the sting on her lower lip tells her she bit down on it as she fell. Just what she needs. 

'There's my girl. We'll make a demon out of you yet,' Amy smirks, sending a wink to Jo before disappearing completely, leaving Jo alone with that statement that chills her to her bone. 

 _Of course_ that's what the main goal is. Every soul that ends up in Hell becomes a demon eventually. She's going to forget herself so much, that she's going to develop a new personality; she's going to become that black smoke that she's fought so hard to defeat; she's going to become the very evil she swore to protect people against. 

And if she lets Amy get to her like that again, it's going to happen sooner than she expected. 

Jo shakes her head as she pushes herself up to a sitting position, shaking her head and mumbling "no" under her breath. She needs to watch herself from now on. She's going to hold off the transformation for as long as possible. She just needs to be calm and patient. 

She can't let Amy get to her. 

If Amy's plan is to twist and warp her into nothing more than black smoke, then she's going to have to do much harder than that. 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Jo lets out a loud, blood curdling scream as the dagger pierces the soft skin of her stomach. The pain soars through her body, setting every nerve alight as she desperately tries to shield herself, tries to pull herself away from the dagger that's twisting and turning inside her, digging deeper as if searching for a certain part of her.

She wants to shout at the demon to stop, wants to summon the courage to spit in Amy's smirking face, who's standing with her back resting against the wall, watching the whole ordeal with a sadistic smirk on her face. She wants it to stop; she wants to get out of Hell; she wants to die again and never go to an afterlife. She just wants it to _stop_. 

'You know what will make it stop, Joanna. If you just say _yes_ , all of this will go away. It's that easy.' Amy declares, and her smirk grows even wider as she pushes herself away from the wall and starts walking towards Jo. 

Jo clenches her jaw to stop any noise breaking free as the knife is suddenly yanked from her stomach in a twisting motion, meant to sever most organs and cause more pain.

_Don't let her win. Don't let her win._

Jo raises her eyes, brown eyes clashing with the bottomless black orbs of the demon, and she swallows hard. Jo gives a harsh chuckle, despite the blood seeping out of her mouth and trickling down her chin, painting her in thin, red lines. 

'So what you’re saying is if I say "yes", you'll let me down and you'll stop the torture?’ Jo questions, raising her eyebrows at the demon. Her hands twitch around the chains she's been holding on to, and her shoulders _ache_ from being held upright for what seems like an eternity. 

Amy's whole idea of mental torture went straight out the window when she realised Jo knew what she was trying to do. 

"I don't like to get my hands dirty,” she had said in reply to Jo's accusation, merely grinned and explained that whilst she didn't prefer to carve chunks out of her victim in order to make the transformation happen, she wasn't beyond it. 

'That's exactly it, my darling Joanna, you say that magical word, and I will call Olivier off. I will let you down from your chains and -'

'And I'll be the one to tie others up.' Jo finishes for her, a disgusted sneer on her face as she takes the words out of the demon's mouth. 

'That's it. I'm sure it'll be all you need to kickstart your transformation into a billow of black smoke. What d'you say, Joanna?' 

Jo gaze falls to the floor a second later, taking a deep breath in as she debates her answer in her head. Getting down certainly sounds tempting… and stringing people up and making them hurt wouldn't exactly be the _worst,_ right? After all, they must've done something to warrant a stay in Hell. 

And it would make it stop. It would make everything stop and she wouldn't have to deal with it again. 

Jo raises her head, her eyes meeting Amy's once more, and she makes her decision, just so she can wipe that stupid smirk off Amy's face.

Blood and spit land on Amy's face and the demon recoils from the warm, wet feeling that lands on her with a soft thud. 

 _'Never_ , you black-eyed bitch.' 

Amy's face contorts into a vicious and disgusting grimace, her lips twitching in anger as her nostrils flare wide. Her whole body tenses as her hand comes up to wipe away the offending spit. 

'So be it, darling. Have fun, Olivier.' Amy orders, waving her hand before she goes to turn away.

All of Jo's pain evaporates with the wave of her hand, and Olivier crowds in on her, dark eyes glinting with pleasure as he raises the dagger, ready to start slicing her apart once more. She's been under his torture long enough to realise that's the way he does things; he starts with the smallest of cuts and slits, before he starts carving chunks until your insides are spilling on the floor. It was his way; it gave him the best pleasure. 

However, before he can even get the dagger anywhere near Jo's skin, the ground starts to shake. The chains holding Jo upright and against the brick wall rattle, and it's enough to stop Amy in her tracks, turning back to Jo with a frown on her face. 

'No way.' She mutters, her eyes widen and full of… _fear_. Jo’s never have seen a demon look so scared for their life, but here it was. Amy turns her head to Olivier, who instantly drops the dagger, letting it land on the stone ground with a loud clatter. 

'They don't get her. I'm going for help.' Amy declares, pointing her finger at Olivier in a warning. 'That's an order. You move, you die.' 

And before Jo can even ask her what's happening, before Olivier can even protest to her words, Amy is gone and leaves no trace of her ever being there. 

Olivier's eyes land on Jo a second later, and for the second time in her life, she sees a demon look _afraid_ , and it's equally the most unsettling thing and the most powerful thing she's ever seen. 

She goes to say something, planning to taunt the demon because why not? She can't die and she's used to the pain now. Sure, everything still hurts and she still screams despite the fact she told herself she wouldn't, but they've not thrown anything new at her for so long that she thinks they've used all of their moves. 

But before she can, before she can even plaster a grin on her face, the demon is suddenly gone. Bright, white light consuming the creature in front of her and turning it to dust.

Jo lets out a scream in surprise, but falls silent when the light rounds on her. It's _pulsing_ , glowing, and emitting a warmth that has Jo automatically leaning closer to her, arching her back as much as she can so she can crowd closer to the warm light that just destroyed the thing that previously had a dagger buried deep inside her stomach. 

Yet, despite all of this, she pulls back as the light moves closer to her, pulling against her manacles in order to push herself as far away from it as possible. The light of… whatever the hell that's supposed to be stops when it realises just what Jo's doing. 

There's a moment where it doesn't move, not even flickering as it stays still, before a hesitant hand-like shape emerges from the light, moving closer to Jo's face, almost as if to cup her cheek, but there's more it could do. It could throttle her and Jo couldn't stop it. She's tied up and it just killed a fucking demon for crying out loud!

'Stay away from me.' Jo warns, her voice fierce with determination and conviction, despite the fact the rattling coming from her chains, the only sound in the room that lets herself and the warm light know she's shaking; whether it's from fear or anticipation, Jo doesn't know, but she's shaking nonetheless.

The light shaped hand pulls away from a moment, almost hesitant in its movement, before it moves forward once again, and it cups Jo's cheek. 

Warmth passes through her, seeping from her cheek into her skin, flowing deeper than her blood and into her bones, down into the very being of her. It lifts her up but at the same time grounds her; it heals all the pain from her torture, from the one five minutes ago to the ones that happened hundreds of years ago. 

Jo lets out a shuddering breath, unable to decide if the touch is like being consumed by fierce flames or having nothing more than the ember spread through her veins.

'My name is Anna.' A soft voice whispers, and whilst Jo doesn't know where it comes from, it doesn't take long for her to decide it's the white light that's telling her this. 'You have no reason to be afraid, Joanna Beth Harvelle. Everything is going to be all right.'

Jo hesitantly raises her eyes, gazing at the light in front of her, still feeling the warmth it emits, still having a part of it cradling her face, and she gets the feeling that she's looking at something _special_ , something… pure.

'You are saved, Jo Harvelle.' The same soft voice comes again, and even as Jo continues to stare at it, it moves closer to her. 'You have no reason to fear.' 

And before Jo can think on anything else the bright light consumes her, much like it did the demon, and all of her thoughts disappear in an explosion of white light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


	2. Never Know Just What We've Done.

The air around her is crisp as she comes to her sense s with a large gasp. It fills her lungs with a coolness and freshness that she has missed for so long; for _too_ long. Her eyelids flutter wildly before she manages to force them open, taking in the sight before her.

She frowns when the sight she sees isn't what she was expecting. She was expecting to still be chained to a brick wall, with iron cutting into her flesh and blood staining her skin. She was expecting to be greeted by the sight of either Amy or Olivier; their black eyes bein g the first thing she sees, like it has been for so long. She was expecting to be greeted by the smell of burning and rotting flesh. 

But it's not like that at all. 

Instead, there's a freshness in the air; like the smell of freshly cut grass or a hot summer's morning. She can remember smells like that. Those were the things she dreamt of in her times alone. 

There's a heat, a pleasant warmth spreading through her body, humming along her nerves and keeping her feeling _good_ , even as a breeze comes along and caresses her bare skin, sending her hairs upright.

The warmth… it's the same warmth from before. When that… whatever the hell that was … the bright light stroked her cheek before enveloping her. It was the same warmth that first appeared just before Olivier was reduced to ashes. It was the same kind of warmth that came from that thing that called itself "Anna . ” 

Jo groans, turning her head to the side as she does so, the sun hitting off her face and providing yet more heat for her skin to soak up. It's been so long since she felt warmth; Hell was nothing like she expected. Hell was cold and chilled her to the bone. Where did the fire and brimstone image come from? That's what she wants to know; if she ever finds the person to invent that theory, she's going to take them to Hell, just to prove a damn point. 

Her brown eyes land on a pile of clothes; a pair of blue denim jeans, a black tank top, underwear , and a pair of boots. It's the kind of things she used to wear; the kind of thing she died in. The only thing missing would be the green jacket. But even then, she doesn't need a jacket. The thing called Anna's warmth is still with her, and anything else would be too much. 

But why are the clothes there? She doesn't need clothes! 

Another breeze comes along, caressing her skin in a way that has her eyes widening and darting down to her body.

'I'm naked.' She croaks, finding it sore to use her voice. It would make sense, after all the screaming she's spent doing, her voice is bound to be hoarse. She doesn't understand where she is, or how the hell this is possible. People like Dean Winchester get rescued from Hell! People with a purpose; people who change and help other people deserve to be rescued from Hell. People like Jo… well… she's not going to say she deserved to be in Hell, but she most certainly didn't deserve any special treatment to be raised from Hell.

_You are saved, Jo Harvelle,_ the light had told her, just after it killed the demon that had spent years torturing her. Breaking her into pieces before making her whole again, only to break her once more in an endless circle. 

_You have no reason to be afraid, Joanna Beth Harvelle. Everything is going to be all right._ It had told her that too. That everything was going to be all right, but how could it know that? What bright , white light could strike fear into demons? What bright , white light could evaporate a demon with a mere touch? 

'An angel.' Jo whispers softly, her voice sounding like a shout in the quiet field. She raises her hand to her face, resting it over her brown eyes as she chokes on a sob. An angel named Anna? Why would an angel called Anna go through the trouble of rescuing her from Hell? She was nothing special! She didn't deserve this… she didn't deserve any of this! She didn't deserve to go to Hell but she didn't deserve to be risen from damnation either! 

Jo pulls herself up to a sitting position, shaking her head as she does so, unable to understand everything. Nothing is making sense, nothing is connecting and she doesn't know what to make of it. So, instead, she decides to focus on something she knows how to do; something she understands.

She knows how to get dressed and she understands that she _needs_ to put clothes on . S o with this in mind, she drags the pile closer to her and starts getting dressed. 

She tries not to think about the fact that everything is a perfect fit, right down to the bra she pulls on, and tries her hardest not to think about what that means. She needs to focus on the things she knows and the things she understands; that's the only way she's going to stop her head from exploding. 

Once fully dressed, she stands and turns in circles, trying to get her bearings. The damn thing could've told her where she was going to drop her off; she has no idea where she is, or how the hell she's going to get home… or _somewhere_ at least, seeing as she has no home to go to. 

Maybe she could find Dean and Sam? They know angels; they have Castiel. They can tell her what has happened, how long she's been away for and just why the angel, Anna, rescued her from Hell without any explanation. 

She nods her head. This she can do; this makes sense. She can get out of this fucking field and find a car or something to start her journey. She can drive until she finds a signpost telling her what state she was in. 

Yeah. That she can do; that's easy enough. 

Her feet trail as she walks through the grass, over to the fence that borders the field. She has no damn idea why she ended up in a _field_ , when she died nowhere near one. The last thing she can remember was… dying in her mother's arms before her mother blew them up. 

How did she still have a body for her soul to be put back into? She should be nothing more than a million pieces, scattered across Carthage. Surely even angels couldn't put her back together again. That would… surely that would be impossible. 

Jo runs her hand through her hair as she reaches the fence, before she sighs and grabs ahold of the wood. She swings her legs over before falling down to the ground with a soft thud. 

With another small sigh, she looks left and right, her hand coming up to hold her hair back, as it starts to get caught in the breeze and curl around her face. Does she go left or does she go right? She hasn't got a fucking clue. Couldn't the angel leave instructions along with the pile of clothes? 

_Hi, this is where you are, and if you go this way, you'll get to the only family you have left! It was fun rescuing you from Hell!_

That would've been more helpful. But no, of course not, that would be too easy. Her life was never meant to be easy, or without any kind of problem. She was just supposed to struggle through. 

She bites her lip as she turns to her right and starts walking down the long road, the gravel at the side of the tarmac road scuffing against her boots. Her feet ache, the boots pinching her toes. Either the angel - Anna - didn't guess her shoe size right, or they're brand new and haven't been broken in. 

Great. Another hindrance. She's going to be walking for God-only-knows how long, and she's got boots that haven't been broken in, and are so going to give her blisters and cuts. Swell.

Jo's not sure how long she walks, it could've been an hour, it could've been five. She still isn't so sure about time anymore. There's no sign telling her what year it is, or how long she's been in Hell.  Several cars had drove past her, and each time she threw her arm out and tried to wave them down, coax them into pulling up beside her and either telling her where she was, or even driving her to the nearest town. None of them stopped. 

Well, one did. A bald, greasy looking guy in a pickup truck pulled up beside Jo as she walked, asking her where she was going and if she wanted a life. Jo wasn't stupid enough to fall for it, knowing exactly what he'd want in return and kindly declined his offer, keeping moving on. 

But he didn't budge. He kept pestering her, telling her to just come with him and stop being so uptight. Jo was ready to punch him and break his nose when his hand enclosed around her wrist, but before she could even react a large gust of wind appeared from nowhere. At the same time his radio starts acting up; previously it had been blasting some cheesy rock song but then it lost its signal, static filling the air, louder and louder until the guy got so freaked out by the rumbling of thunder, the squealing of the static, that he let go of Jo and drove away.

Jo looked around herself as everything settled back to normal as soon as his truck was out of sight, and with a small shrug she kept walking until she  eventually  found a car . It's a shitty Ford that's battered and rusted, and just what she needs. Something that no-one will miss… well, not really. 

She looks around herself, checking to see if anyone was about to witness her break into the car . B ut when she realises that there isn't anyone about, that the roads are, in fact, empty, she reaches down and picks up the largest branch that's near her.

With a grunt, she swings the branch forward, letting the wood connect with the glass, before she jumps back to stop the glass from embedding in her skin as it cracks. Luckily, it collapses mostly inside the vehicle. When everything is finally settled, she reaches in and unlocks the car door, wiping away the glass off the seat and onto the ground before she slides into the car. 

'Right, let's see if you remember how to do this.' Jo whispers to herself as she pulls away the piece of plastic to reveal the wires of the car . Then after a few trials and error, the car roars into life and Jo can't help the smile that pulls at her lips. 

'Still got it.' She grins as she revs the car once, twice, three times, revelling in the sound the engine makes as she does so. 

She goes to put the car into drive before she has a thought. Her hand hovers above the stick for a moment, before she stretches across and pulls the door to the glove compartment open. Her hand searches aimlessly, unable to search and look inside it at the same time from her position, but soon, her hands caress the distinctive shape of a cellphone, and with a triumphant yelp, she grabs ahold of it and tugs it out. 

It's a n old flip-phone, the kind that was obsolete even when Jo was still alive, and has definitely got to be prehistoric now. Still, it's got charge, it's got a signal and she just hopes and prays that it's got credit. 

She slips the car into drive and it takes off down the road with the slightest press of her foot on the accelerator. The road is empty, and for the first ten minutes, she passes no other car, let alone a cop car, so she picks the phone up once more, having dropped it onto the other seat the second she started moving.

Her fingers glide over the buttons, pressing in Dean's number, having memorised it by heart. She don't know what it says about her, when she's spent God knows how long in the pits of Hell, and still knows his number without any hesitancy. 

Jo presses the call button, raising the crappy cell to her ear and holding it there with her shoulder. She expects it to ring; she expects him to answer. What she doesn't expect is for the tone to ring into her ear, before an automated voice explains "this number is not recognised, please try again."  

She frowns, pulling the phone away from her ear in order to look at the screen. She reads the number again. That's _definitely_ his number; there's no way she'd ever forget it. 

She shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts as she steers the car back into the middle of her lane, having veered of f co a rse when she heard what the phone had to say. She hits the redial button.

"This number is not recognised, please try again , ” comes once more and her hands tighten almost painfully around the small device. She wants to throw it away; hurl it out the window and watch it smash into tiny pieces against the ground. But she doesn't. It's still a phone and it's still got credit. She's not that stupid.

Not to mention, there's Dean's brother... Sam is never away from Dean for long. It may just... it may just be that Dean's not answering his phone. Yeah, that's what it is. It's not because their past or life has finally caught up with them and he's lying in a grave somewhere or had the hunter's funeral. Not at all. Dean and Sam Winchester are still very much alive; she can feel it in her bones. 

She pulls the phone away once more, clearing Dean's number off the screen. Remembering Sam's number is a little harder, takes a few more minutes for all the digits to slot into place, but before long, she has Sam's number pressed into the phone. 

"This number is not recognised, please try again . ” 

' _Fuck_!' She exclaims, finally giving into her desire and throwing the cell onto the passenger seat where it bounces with a soft thud before it falls onto the floor with a clatter. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_!'  

The car swerves into the other lane, and Jo's definitely thankful that the angel plonked her in some random-ass, unpopulated town. She'd need another rescue if this road was actually busy, because she has no doubt that she would've crashed by now. 

But the thought of the angel that rescued her is enough for her anger to flare up again, having dialled down with the shock of nearly ending in a ditch. 

Who goes to the trouble of rescuing someone from Hell, only to let them wander aimlessly around in the world that they're not supposed to be in? It's got to be a year, at the very _least_ since that day in Missouri, but surely longer. Clinging to her humanity in Hell is the only reason she's got this far... the only reason that she's not still in the field, no longer sure how to tie her laces or button up her jeans. 

Her hazel eyes land on the road once more, having flickered back down to the cell still lying on the floor, and her eyes widen as she lets out a shriek. Her foot goes straight for the brake, slamming the car to a halt and stopping it just in time before it goes crashing into the red-haired woman standing in the middle of the damn road. 

'What the _fuck_?' She whispers, her breath nothing more than a shaky exhale as her hand automatically goes to her waistband, where she normally keeps her gun… only to realise she doesn't have one on her. The angel didn't leave her one. 

She's completely weaponless when some crazy son of a bitch is standing in the middle of the road. 

'Well, this isn't going to end well.' Jo mutters to herself, before she swallows hard and reaches for the handle of the door. There's only a moment of hesitation before she opens the door, thinking that if this is real danger the angel will swoop down and save her. After all, who's going to let the person they rescued from Hell get killed once more? That seems like a wasted journey, and from what Dean's told her, angels are the laziest, most annoying sons of bitches to ever walk the Earth. They don't want wasted energy. 

Maybe she'll be fine. 

Her foot hits the road with a dull thud, her hands clenching on the frame of the door to haul herself out of the Ford. They're shaking, just slightly, because she has no idea what this is in front of her, and she has no weapon whatsoever. She feels weak and defenceless, and God what if this is another demon? What if it's just Amy in a different meatsuit? 

The idea that this is all just some elaborate torture trick by Amy hasn't completely left Jo's mind, but even then she thinks it just too much intelligence for a demon.

'Y'know, standing in the middle of a road, even a deserted one, isn't the best idea.' Jo starts, leaning her arms against the door frame, deciding to use the metal as a shield. It's better than moving closer and putting her body in the firing line. Though, judging from the once over she's already given the red-head, she carries no weapons - none that are visible anyway. 

'The clothes look good on you; I had no idea what kind of style you would prefer.' The red-head states instead, apparently choosing to  ignore Jo's words, something that Jo finds herself frowning at. 

That voice.It all comes back to her again as soon as the red-head says those words.  _My name is Anna._ _You have no reason to be afraid, Joanna Beth Harvelle. Everything is going to be all right._ The angel that rescued  her  from Hell.

She shakes her head, stumbling backwards slightly, 'It can't be.' 

The red-head smiles softly, taking a hesitant step forward,  but then  stopping when she sees Jo take an instinctive step backwards away from her. 

'Do you have faith, Jo?' 

Jo frowns, swallowing hard at the question. Does she have faith? What kind of loaded question is that ? Her faith is touch  and go. She never thought about it when she started this life, then she went through a roller coaster of having faith and thinking it was just a load of  crap . Then she went to Hell and that was shot to blazes. How could she have faith when she landed her soul in Hell? Then she was rescued by an angel and now she's back to where she was before ?

'I'm not sure , ’  i s Jo's answer and even then she doesn't think it's right. The red-head says nothing, even as her eyes narrow slightly, her  hazel eyes flickering over Jo's face. She sighs. 

'My name is Anna, and I'm an angel of the Lord.' Anna explains, taking another step closer to Jo, after seemingly considering the outcomes of the movement. Her small heels click against the road and the sound is enough to bring Jo back to her senses after the revelation she just heard. 

The voice is the exact same as the one that raised her from Hell, but then again, how could she be sure? There are things that happened in Hell she doesn't remember; things that haven't come back to her yet. She could just be thinking it's this voice, seeing as it's the first female voice she's heard since was raised. 

So, instead, she raises her chin, narrowing her  brown eyes just slightly before declaring, 'Prove it.' 

Anna stops short, her head cocking to the side with Jo's words. Jo thinks she's going to say no, either that or kill her because hey, she's not actually an angel of the Lord in her eyes . 

However, a second later a smile pulls at Anna's lips, stretching wide to reveal straight, white teeth. A soft chuckle breaks free after that, and when her  hazel eyes meet Jo's once more, the next words she says confuses Jo - well, more than she is already. 

'You're just like Dean.' Anna mutters and doesn't elaborate any further, much to Jo's annoyance. But before Jo can state that she can't drop a statement like that then shut up, Anna's closing her eyes and breathing in deep . Dark brown wings pour out of Anna's shoulders, and talking about Dean is the last thing on Jo's mind. They extend to each side of the road, just a little bit further. They're _shiny_ and so very real that Jo could just reach out and touch them. 

'Wings.' She mutters as she forgets everything her mother and father ever taught her, and steps around the door of the car, slamming it shut behind her as she moves closer to Anna. 'Oh my God. You're really an angel.' 

The wings still haven't disappeared, not even as she raises her hand and gently brushes the tip over the silky brown feathers. However, the feeling doesn't last long, and before she knows what's happening, her hand is touching nothing but air as the wings disappear. 

Jo hears Anna's shaky exhale, sees her hunch in on herself and her eyes dart to the angel with a frown on her face. 

'Everything all right?' 

'Yes. It's just… hard to keep them in this realm for so long. The y don't exist here normally.' Anna explains and Jo's mouth falls open in understanding. Her eyes dart back to the space where the wings had previously occupied, still in awe by the sight. 

Yet, she remembers Anna's earlier words and asks, 'What do you mean "I'm just like Dean"? You know Dean Winchester? Is he still alive? I couldn't get ahold of him and I've… been worried.' She takes a minute before she finishes that sentence because if she doesn't sound like a love-struck teenager now, she doesn't know what will. She was sure those feelings had died a long time ago… apparently not. 

Something flashes across Anna's face, something close to… what Jo is feeling. That's what that look is. It can't possibly be anything else. So, they know each other, that much is definitely clear, and they know each other in a way that Jo and Dean never did. Well , that's just brilliant. 

'Dean Winchester is still alive, yes, but he's been through a lot. He's no longer a hunter; neither is his brother.' 

'They gave up hunting? Both of them?' Jo asks, her voice nothing more than a whisper. She doesn't really want an answer to that. There's so many things she has questions about but doesn't want the answer to them ; not really. She shakes her head, hoping the angel understands the movement, and thankfully, she does. Anna's lips pull into a kind, understanding smile and Jo relaxes just a little. 'Do you know where they are? Sam and Dean? Do you know where I can find them? I've tried to call, but the ir  cells aren't working...' 

Jo's brown eyes never leave Anna's face, not even as the angel tilts her head up towards the sky, her eyes narrowing slightly. She breathes in deep and Jo's brow furrows. What's up with the deliberation? The damn thing normally can't wait to answer her questions, now all of a sudden, she's acting mysterious?

Anna's face lowers, her hazel eyes meeting Jo's once more, and the smile is still on her face... only it looks less like a smile now and more like a smirk. It sends a shiver running up Jo's spine, and she knows that's definitely not a good sign.

'Yes.' Anna replies, her voice still strong. 'I know where they are.' 

Jo's eyes widen, taking a step closer to Anna before she knows what she's doing. 

'You have to take me to them!' She declares, but as soon as she's finished, she sees something in Anna's hazel eyes that have her continuing, changing more from a request to a demand. 'You pulled me from Hell, Anna, and left me alone in a field to find my way out. The least you can do is take me to the only family I have left now that you've finally decided to show yourself.' 

Anna's eyes narrow, and Jo is suddenly reminded of the fact that there's nothing but fickle flesh holding back all that divine and holy power. Despite the revelation - which is the only thing Jo can think about now - she keeps her eyes locked on Anna's, raising her chin slightly. 

If she wants to throw her back in the pit then it's only her that loses out; it'll only be Anna's energy that was wasted, not Jo's. 

Anna's face remains emotionless, and Jo has no idea on whether she's decided whether to take her to Sam and Dean, or whether she's planning out the best and easiest way to kill her. Probably the first, right? I mean, surely she wouldn't be planning out the best way to kill  her , not when she _just_ pulled her from Hell.

'Okay,' Anna's voice distracts her from her thoughts and Jo's eyes refocus on the redhead. 'I'll take you to Sam and Dean. Let's go.' 

Before Jo can even say anything; before she can thank her for deciding to take her to her family and not smite her on the spot, Anna is strolling past her, heading to the car that Jo had stolen not that long ago. She turns in order to watch the angel walk to the car with a frown on her face. 

'What are you doing?' Jo finds herself asking before she can stop herself. Not that she can blame herself for blurting out the question anyway; it's the only thing that's been going on inside her head since she saw the angel move.

Anna's hazel eyes refocus on Jo, and there's a small frown on her young face. Jo bites her lip; her vessel was definitely one beautiful woman; soft curves in some places, sharp lines in others, but there's still a tenderness to all of her, hidden beneath creamy pale skin. 

Jo minutely shakes her head; she is _not_ thinking about that. Especially when there's a damn angel of the Lord inside the woman; who was probably still in there too. Somewhere. 

'What am I doing? I'm getting in the car to take you to the Winchesters.' Anna replies with a smirk on her lips. It's teasing and if Jo weren't feeling like she was ready to explode from everything so far, she would've found it as teasing as it was meant to be; instead it just aggravates her, being too damn tired and too fuck ing exhausted to deal with teasing from an angel. 

'You've got wings, haven't you, hot shot?' Jo can't help the venom that seeps into her voice, can't stop herself from walking over until she's standing in front of Anna with her eyes narrowed as she looks up to the angel. 

'You saw how hard it was for me to bring them into this realm, Joanna, you think I can _fly_ us to Dean and Sam?' 

'I've seen Castiel do it a million times. If he can do it, I assume you can too.' 

Anna's jaw clenches shut at the mention of Castiel, and Jo can't think of what she said wrong… then again, every angel had something against Cas, didn't they? So maybe that was it. But how do you know Sam and Dean Winchester; get close to Sam and Dean Winchester all whilst hating their angel? It's just not possible. There must be something else to it all, Jo realises, something that she's just going to have to get to the bottom of.

'You've been in Hell for nearly four years, Jo,' Anna retorts, but she doesn't give Jo a chance to get her head around that, and continues to barge on. 'A lot has changed. All angels were nearly expelled from Heaven thanks to precious Castiel. Things are touchy up there and we don't have as much strength as we had before. So no, Joanna, I cannot fly you to your family. If you want to go to them, we're going to have to drive.' 

She doesn't give Jo any time to protest or ask questions about that either, and instead climbs into the car, shutting the passenger door behind her. 

The only thing that moves Jo is when a cold blast of wind cuts against her skin, and she's reminded of the fact that she has no jacket to keep her warm. So, she turns and walks back around the driver's side, getting inside and shutting the door behind her, before she turns the engine on and they start the drive in silence. 

_ ~oOoOoOoOoOo~ _

Surprisingly, it isn't until they've been driving until the sky has turned from blue to pink-orange does Jo bring up the news of how long she's been in Hell for. 

She's not sure what took her so long to get up the courage, but after yawning for what seemed like the millionth time, she cracks and asks, 'So four years, huh?' 

'Yes,' is all Anna says, and Jo can't help the scoff that breaks free from her lips. Nor can she fight the eye roll, and when Anna's turns her head to raise her eyebrow at her, Jo shakes her head and decides to expand. The angel deserves that much, surely.

'"Yes , ” that's all you've got to say? Not going to fill me in? Is Barack Obama still the president? Are we still at war with Afghanistan and have we started any more? Do demons and werewolves still walk the Earth? And how many times have Sam and Dean died in that time? Amy said something about seeing Sam in Hell not that long ago…' Jo trails off immediately, finding herself freezing at the very mention of the demon who tortured her for _four years_. Holy shit, how  is she still human?

Anna cocks her head to the side and Jo can feel her eyes raking over her face, studying her. Jo swallows hard and turns her face back to the front, deciding to focus on the road once more. No need to think of Amy; no need at all.

And great, that's all she can think about now.

'Barack Obama _is_ still the president. The war in Afghanistan is due to end this year, and whilst we haven't started another war yet, it's close with a few, such as Russia and Syria to name a couple. Every thing you hunt still walks the Earth, yes, and a couple of new ones for a short time. And I don't think you really want to know the answer to that last question.' 

Jo can't help the small grin that pulls at her lips and she even finds herself letting out a small chuckle as well. 

'No, not really.' She admits truthfully, but the laughter dies a moment later as she yawns once more. 

'Perhaps we should pull over. We can continue tomorrow, Jo.' 

Jo thinks about protesting; thinks about saying that's not _that_ tired and that she'll survive, but then she realises that she actually cannot keep her eyes open. She thinks about asking where the hell they're supposed to pull over, because there's no way she's sleeping in the car - there's no way she's doing that for her first night back on earth - but then she sees the distinct red neon sign reading "hotel , ” with the word "vacancy" underneath it, and she realises that she might as well pull into the hotel and get some sleep. 

It's not like it's going to do her any harm. 

She signals for the exit and pulls the car into the first parking space that she can find. 

'So, seeing as angels have apparently changed so much since the last time I was about, do you guys still not need to sleep?' Jo enquires as she turns the engine off and shuts the light s down. There's a grin playing on her lips and when she turns her head to face Anna, she notices that the angel always has one tugging at her lips.

'Yes, we still don't need to sleep. But I will watch over you.' 

'What, sitting … watching me sleep?' Jo mutters, trailing off into a chuckle, but when she notices the serious expression on Anna's face, her eyes widen. 'Dude, no, that's creepy.  A ngel or not, that's just… freaky. Go back to Heaven or something, but you're not watching me sleep.' 

Jo opens the car door then, stepping out and heading to the reception, without even bothering to look back and see what Anna had decided to do. Whether she was still sitting in the car, or if she had disappeared back to Heaven or what. 

When she gets the single-bedded room, and gets the keys from the woman at the desk, she goes to room 203 and as soon as the door is shut behind her, she collapses onto the double bed. 

_ ~oOoOoOoOoOo~ _

_The putrid smell of burning flesh is enough to stir her from her dreams_ _and it_ _pull_ _s_ _her sharply from the thoughts of a warm sun bouncing of her skin and the smell of freshly cut grass clouding her senses. Her eyes flutter, hazel eyes opening briefly before falling shut once more, too much effort to force them to stay open for long enough._

_'What do you want?' Jo murmurs, her head lolling even as she tries to force it upright. She used to be strong; she could resist the mental torture to some extent. Sure, she wound up crying and screaming for Amy to come back and end it, but she never felt so pathetic, so tired, so_ **_worn_ ** _afterwards._

_Now she does. Now she can't even summon the energy to rattle her manacles in an attempt to break free; now she can't even be bothered to scream at Amy to make it all stop._

_'I've told you what Amy wants,' Olivier's voice comes a second after her broken whisper, the sound of his oaky voice seeping through her skin and making her blood churn. 'If you join me, it'll all stop.'_

_He carries the last word on like a note from a song, his voice too chirpy, a sharp contrast from the smell that's invading her lungs._

_Jo finally opens her eyes, hazel clashing with bottomless black pits. Her eyes are heavy and lidded, nothing but small slits that cause her vision to go hazy. Despite that, she can clearly see Olivier; the black, empty eyes, the crooked, sadistic grin on his thin, dry lips._

_'And I've told you,' Jo croaks, her voice thin and weak, her mouth too dry to form the words properly. She clears her throat once, twice, before she shakes her head slowly. It's not working. What's the point?_

_But Olivier is looking at her expectantly, one ha_ _n_ _d raised to his ear in a mocking attempt to hear her better. She needs to continue. She can't be_ **_that_ ** _weak._

_'That Amy and you can,' she takes a sharp inhale, choking on the dryness of her mouth. 'Can go and fuck yourselves.'_

_Olivier chuckles, a deep rumble that has Jo's stomach churning, and her skin crawls when his hand comes up and grabs ahold of her jaw, squeezing the skin of her cheeks in until they painfully grind against her teeth._

_'You should watch that tongue of yours,' Olivier grins, his fingers moving so that he can trail one along her pursed, lower lip. His finger is rough and coarse against her dry lips, and Jo finally finds the strength to lift her head. She tries to jerk away from him, but his fingers tighten their hold on her jaw._

_'Ah, ah, ah, none of that,' he admonishes, a wicked glint in his eyes. 'You know how this works, darling,_ **_I'm_ ** _the one that calls the shots. Well, until you cave and say "yes" that is.'_

_He thrusts her head away then, a sharp movement that makes her neck crack and her eyes sting with tears from the roughness of the movement. He walks over to the table, the one that wasn't there before, the one that he wheels in at the start of every session. The first time Jo spent every second looking at the damn thing, studying all the weapons, or_ **_toys_ ** _as Olivier called them, that he had. Many of them she barely recognised, didn't even know the names of those ones. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if the majority of those weapons were special to Hell and Olivier._

_But he doesn't go for something that is different or only special to Hell. Of course not. When it comes to Jo, he has a habit of using the weapons that she knows the most about in order to torture her. Apparently, there's supposed to be some psychological torture with that, too, but Jo can't really see it; she's normally too busy screaming from the pain, from feeling her insides leak out of her._

_His long fingers skim along the edge of the table, before they trail over a sharp dagger that he enjoys using on her; carving shapes into her skin and cutting chunks out of her body. He enjoys that the most… but not as much as_ _—_ _there it is. His fingers trace small circles around the handle of the cat-o'-nine-tails whip, before he lifts his head and gives her a teasing grin._

_'You enjoy this one the most, don't you, lovely?' Olivier coos, his hand wrapping around the slender, leather handle of the whip as he lifts it from the table. 'You scream the loudest when I use this on you, my dear. I know you_ **_love_ ** _it.'_

_He moves then, having picked the toy that he plans on using for this session, and walks back over to stand directly in front of Jo. Olivier moves the whip, letting the long leather tails trail against her denim-clad leg, trailing it up over her stomach until the edge of the handle is pressing against her sternum and dipping into the column of her throat._

_He cocks his head to the side, 'If I didn't like your screams so much, I think my fingers would fit perfectly around that dainty neck of yours,' he murmurs, leaning even further forward and digging the hard plastic even further into her throat, causing her to cough and splutter but he doesn't release the pressure. He continues to lean forward until his nose is pressed against her jaw and he inhales sharply._

_Jo flinches away from him with a sharp inhale, but all it does it cause him to chuckle as he pulls away from her, finally lifting the handle of the whip off her neck._

_He takes two steps away from her, the tails of the whip sliding along the stone ground with a faint rustling sound._

_The sound the whip makes the first time Olivier moves it is enough to make Jo gasp. No matter how often he's used the damn thing on her, no matter how often she's been torn apart by the fucking thing, the thunder-like crack of the whip_ **_always_ ** _makes her flinch._

_And Olivier knows it._

_That's why he does it. It's also why he does it again, letting the sound echo through the stone walls as he does three consecutive whips, each of them growing in loudness and each of them moving closer and closer to Jo's body, until the last one is so close the leather caresses her stomach but doesn't give her any pain._

_Her entire body is clenched tight, waiting for the first lash of the leather, and when Olivier notices just how wound tight she is, how much she's trying to prepare herself for the first blow, he lets his hand fall limply by his side, fingers loosening their hold on the cat-o'-nine-tails, but not letting go of it completely._

_Jo's breathing is ragged, and she opens her eyes, which she didn't even realise she had closed, when the sound has been gone for nearly five minutes. He never normally waits this long between making her anticipate and making her scream._

_When her brown eyes find his pitch black ones, she can see the smirk on his face._

_'What have I told you about anticipating and steeling yourself, darling?' Olivier coos, and before Jo can even_ **_think_ ** _about giving a sassy reply to that, he's already moving._

_The first time the whips strikes her stomach, she lets out a loud scream, her hands clenching around her iron chains that pin her to the wall. Olivier just grins at her, chuckles once before he pulls the whip back, ready to attack again. Jo squeezes her eyes shut, waiting for the oncoming lashing. She grinds her teeth together to try and stop the scream when she hears the sound of the nine tails whooshing through the air, but the sting of the whack never comes._

_She reopens her eyes and Olivier is right in front of her_ _with_ _grin wide on his lips as Jo recoils away from him instinctively._

_'Honey, you're never going to anticipate this, so why don't you open your eyes and watch the show?' He offers and Jo doesn't think it's possible, even if she_ **_wanted_ ** _to do that, but she doesn't miss the way his grin widens as he takes two steps backwards, back to where he was before._

_As soon as he raises the whip, she tries to close her eyes, tries to clench them shut and brace herself from the oncoming pain, but she can't. She can move her hazel eyes from side to side, can move them up and down and from Olivier to his table of toys, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't blink or close_ _her_ _eyes._

_'I told you to open your eyes and watch the show.' Olivier quips with a chuckle, before he snaps the whip back and forward, letting the nine leather tails smack against Jo's naked belly._

_She screams-_

Jo writhes on the bed, blonde hair clinging to her slick skin. The sweat pools on her brow and neck the most. Her eyes flutter, her fingers twitch before she falls still once more. 

_By the time the next blow comes, Jo finds she can't move her hands either. She tries to clench her fists, trying to create some tension, some other pain to concentrate on, to stop herself from thinking about the strokes of the whip that's tearing lines into the soft flesh of her stomach._

_She grunts and groans, but she doesn't scream. Not since the first blow has she screamed, and it's then she realises just what his plan is. He's stopped any other methods of releasing her pain, meaning the only way she's going to be able to do it, is by screaming._

_Well, she's not going to give him the satisfaction._

_She lifts her head just that bit higher, but it's enough to make Olivier notice and he stops, grinning like a cat that caught the canary._

_'My, my, I can see the wheels turning in that pretty little head of yours.' Olivier declares, letting the whip fall to the ground with a clatter. 'What are you thinking, Joanna? Did you finally realise my plan? Amy did tell you that you were going to scream. And you're going to scream for_ **_me_ ** _today, darling. One way or another.'_

She twitches again, this time with her whole body. Her head turns sharply, moving over to the other side of the pillow. A whimper break s free from her lips as she clenches and unclenches her hand on her covers. Her feet kick wildly once before falling still.

_'I'm not giving you anything, you fucker.' Jo hisses, her breath coming out short and sharp, the words barely formed as they leave her mouth. It's too much effort to speak, she really should be staying silent, but she can't help it. She's not giving into this damn thing. The damn thing she's hated since she was a little girl and one killed her father._

_Suddenly there's a knife pressed against her face, the tip digging into the hollow of her cheeks and she sucks in a sharp breath._

_'Don't be disrespectful, you know what that gets you.' The demon warns and she can't help but snap her mouth shut, her teeth making an audible sound at the movement. 'Good girl.'_

_Her eyes flash and she's got a retort on the tip of her tongue when the knife suddenly pierces her skin, carving a hole in the flushed and slick_ _ed_ _skin. Blood trickles down her cheek, over her jaw_ _,_ _and makes a line of red down her neck. She hisses and groans when he pulls the blade away from her, a malicious glint in his eyes._

_'What did I tell you?'_

_He moves away from her, turning his back and Jo wants to wipe the blood away, wants to stop the_ **_drip_ ** _,_ **_drip_ ** _,_ **_drip_ ** _of it as it falls from her chin onto her chest. But she still can't move. She still can't even_ **_blink_ ** _. All she can do is talk or scream, and she's definitely not doing the last thing._

_Or the first one… if that's the reaction it's going to get her. It's then Jo realises just how wrong that is; normally Olivier is the one person who enjoys her insults and her wit because he argues back with her. Now he's telling her it's "disrespectful" and carving her up in his least favourite way because of it? Something is definitely wrong._

_'What's wrong, Olivier?' She asks, raising her head that bit taller, even as he leans down and picks the whip up once more. 'Amy withholding the nookie until you get me to crack? You'll be waiting a long time; she'd probably start shacking up with someone else.'_

_It's the wrong thing to say. Definitely the wrong thing to say._

Her head turns sharply again, her eyes clench and her brow furrows in agony as a pained groan seeps through her lips. Sweat beads on her upper lip, drips down her neck and soaks her pillow. Her hair is damp, clinging to her skin in a way that she would deem annoying if she weren't gripped so tight by the visions. 

Her leg kicks out, throwing the covers off half her body in the process. 

_Olivier turns, his eyes narrowed and the black seemingly darker than before. How is that possible? How can you get darker than black? Then again, how can you suffer so much pain and not die? How can you experience the effects of weapons that don't even exist in the world you're from? She's starting to realise nothing is impossible._

_'You watch your tongue, or I'll cut it out.' He warns and Jo doesn't know what overcomes her, for she suddenly grins, ignoring the sharp, stinging pain in her cheeks as she does so, before she sticks her tongue out at him in such a childish and teasing manner, she's actually embarrassed for herself._

_'You cheeky_ **_bitch_ ** _,' Olivier roars before he raises the whip once more and snaps it forward so it connects with her skin._

_Her words and taunts seem to have unleashed something, however, and he doesn't stop to tease her like he did before. Instead he pulls his arm backwards before snapping it forward again, over and over again._

Her breaths come out short and sharp, her hands clench around her covers before they suddenly snap up to rest on the pillow beside her head, and a moment later, they entwine in her hand and pull sharply. 

_She can't help all the screams and shouts that break free from her lips; can't help her cries of "no, please, stop" or "I'm begging you, stop_ _._ _” She knows that it's not what he wants to hear, but she can't help but feel like he wouldn't stop now anyway. She's pushed him too far this time; she can feel it with every lash of the leather tails against her skin._

She twists once and the covers slip off her body and lie in a heap on the other side of the bed. Her thrashing gets worse, the movements bigger and bolder, her whole body arching as she desperately tries to escape her nightmare.

_He doesn't let up. Not one bit. The lashes keep coming, one right after the other, just as painful as the last. He pants but he doesn't sweat and Jo's jealous about that. She sounds like a dying dog, the panting loud and quick and sharp as she desperately tries to find time to breath in between her screams. And there's sweat covering her entire body, mixing with blood and tissue as they all drip to the floor._

_She doesn't scream as her skin finally breaks and her guts spill over the floor, instead she makes a choked noise, the sound of a groan or a scream getting caught in her throat and coming out as mangled as her organs._

_But it doesn't stop there, for Olivier keeps going. Keeps raising the whip for blow after blow as she fades out of existence, as everything becomes too much and she can't feel anymore; as she starts to be unsure on how much of her was still hanging on the shackles attached to the wall, and how much of her had been carved into a million pieces and currently littering the floor._

_And just as she's nearly gone; just as the pain is at its peak where it just_ **_disappears_ ** _and turns into nothing but darkness, that's when she finds herself whole and pain-free -_

Jo bolts awake with a loud scream, her hands scrambling aimlessly under the covers and pillow, only to realise a moment later that she doesn't have a damn knife on her. How the hell was she supposed to protect herself if Amy or Olivier burst through the door? 

'No-one is here, Joanna.' A voice sounds and Jo screams once more, unable to stop the sound from breaking free from her lips as she turns wildly, throwing herself off the bed over to the other side where the sound did _not_ come from, and grabs the lamp from the side table. She wields it in defensive, her breathing sharp and short but she loosens her tight grasps when she sees the familiar brown eyes and bright red hair. 

'Anna,' she sighs in relief, and she doesn't miss the way the angel's lips flicker into a brief smile at that. Okay, so maybe she was starting to trust and relax around the angel, but she was never going to admit that aloud. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?' 

Jo sets the lamp back onto the table before she reaches up and runs a hand through her damp hair, grimacing when she comes in contact with the wet slick and wipes it on her tank top. It's then she becomes aware of just how drenched in sweat she is, and how _disgusting_ that is. 

'I'm here to stop your nightmares.' Anna replies, taking a step forward and when Jo doesn't take her usual instinctive step backwards, she takes it as a sign to approach Jo.

'My nightmares?' Jo repeats, her voice betraying her and quivering on the word "nightmares . ” How the hell she thought she was going to come home from Hell and have no nightmares? No nightmares of Olivier carving her into tiny pieces and then putting her back together; no nightmares of Amy telling her to pick up Olivier's knife and start torturing ? Of course there was going to be nightmares, things crawling in the dark when she closes her eyes. 

Only foolish children think they'll walk out of the pit and everything will be normal again. 

'They're normal, Jo, Dean suffered from them as you know,' Anna explains, but when she notices the way Jo's face twists, her eyes widening in shock at the statement, Anna backtracks. 'You… you _didn't_ know?'

'That Dean suffered from nightmares? No. I didn't even know he had tortured souls in Hell until Amy told me. At first I thought she was lying, trying to convince me that it was okay to torture because Dean did it, and she knew how I felt…' Jo trails off, her gaze falling away from Anna's face to the floor as she clears her throat. 'But then she showed me memories from other souls; ones he had carved into.' 

She takes a deep breath before she reaches up with a shaky hand to wipe away the tear she didn't even realise had fallen till that moment. 

'He never really talked about Hell; Dean doesn't really talk about anything, I'm sure you've noticed,' she gives a humourless chuckle as the hand that had just wiped away the tear goes to card through her hair. Her fingers get caught in the knots and tangles, and when she pulls her hand away, it's slick with sweat. 

Jo grimaces as she rubs it on her jeans and clears her throat, 'I'm gonna go for a shower.' 

And before Anna can say anything, can even offer to ease the shaking panic that's sweeping through her body, Jo turns on her heel and goes to the bathroom, shutting the door and leaning her back against it. 

It takes another ten minutes before she feels ready enough to climb into the shower without wishing she had brought a knife with her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


	3. The Blood We Shed

By the time Jo comes out of the shower, she's managed to wash all the thoughts of the nightmare off of her skin. There's no sweat clinging to her body anymore; no headiness holding her down and drenching her with the sheer panic that she had felt in the seconds before she woke up. 

So, when she steps out of the bathroom, towel wound tight around her body, she doesn't feel the desire to jump or reach for her non-existent gun. She just stops for a moment, taking in a deep breath as she assures herself that there's no immediate threat; there's nothing to worry about.

'I thought you would've left by now.' Jo replies as she wanders back over to the bed. She picks up the clothes she had been wearing before, but grimaces when she feels how _soaked_ they are, from her sweat. There is no way she is putting them back on, not after finally ridding herself of the slick sweat. 

'I brought you new clothes.' Anna says instead, picking up a small plastic bag that she then passes over to Jo. 'I didn't think you'd want to wear those tonight.' 

Jo takes the bag, peeking inside with a small frown. She swallows the lump in her throat, trying not to think about the fact the angel came from her own room to help her with her nightmares, and then went out at god-only-knows-time in the morning to get her some clean clothes. 

'Uh, thanks.' Jo murmurs as she turns and heads back for the bathroom. She doesn't really expect Anna to still be there when she comes back out, having decided that the angel has done what she wanted to, and now she'd go and do something better.

Maybe that's why she's so surprised when she comes back out of the dingy bathroom for the second time that night, and sees the redhead still standing there with her eyes fixed on the door of the bathroom, and then on Jo as she leaves the room. 

Jo clears her throat, finding it hard to think of anything to say to her. She guesses that the angel isn't as awkward as Castiel is, mainly because Anna knew about Barack Obama, knew about the rock bands that Jo found on the radio as they drove down the highway. She even sang along to the _Bon Jovi_ songs that came on. Something that she knew Castiel would never be able to do. 

But even then, she can't think of a single thing to say to her. What do you say to an angel of the Lord, that's hundreds, if not thousands , of years old? You don't just talk about weather, and it's not like she can talk to her about men, seeing as the only one in common they have is Dean, and well… Jo'd rather not go down that road.

Then again, she _would_ like to know what made Sam and Dean Winchester give up hunting. The last time she checked, they were going to be living the life until it caught up with them and killed them. 

Now, all of a sudden, they're out of the game? 

'So… what made Sam and Dean leave the hunting life? They… it's the "family business" in their eyes.' Jo says, dumping the wet towel by the door for the maid to pick up later. 

Anna shrugs, casting her eyes down to the ground, 'Circumstances.' 

Jo frowns. That's… _that's_ her explanation? _Circumstances_? Well, she hardly thought they retired for the hell of it! They seriously were going to do the damn job until they died, of _course "_ circumstances" were going to make them stop! 

She doesn't say any of this, merely swallows down those replies and takes a deep breath. 

'Such as?' She prompts, hoping to God that he made at least _one_ of his angel's have some common sense. 

Apparently not. 

'Circumstances that changed them.' She replies and Jo grinds her teeth together, barely able to stop the retort from breaking free from her mouth. Her eye twitches after they narrow and her jaw  becomes sore with the pressure of being held shut.

She's actually starting to get a sore head already, so that's why she clears her throat after swallowing back as much anger as she can manage, and declares, 'Okay, I'm going to try and get back to sleep.' 

Jo waves her hand towards the door in  a  subtle hint, and when Anna turns and starts walking to the door, Jo can't help but roll her eyes behind her back. _That_ she would understand. That stupid little hint she'd get, but prompting to know what circumstances caused Sam and Dean to give up their lives as hunters is apparently too damn complex. 

'I'll see you tomorrow, Joanna.' 

'Jo. It's Jo.' She declares, her voice not as much as a snap as she thought it would be. Normally whenever anyone calls her "Joanna" or "Joanna Beth , ” her voice is so sharp it can cut glass. She doesn't know what to think of that, but luckily, Anna just gives her a brief smile and then leaves through the door and leaving her alone. 

Jo glances towards the queen-sized bed and sighs. There's no way she's going to get to sleep now. She has no idea that every time she closes her eyes, Olivier and Amy are going to seep into her vision; visions of all the sessions of torture that she endured coming back to her and making her bolt awake with a scream again. 

She's not going to do that. She'd rather not have any sleep than see them again. 

But what the hell was she supposed to do? Her eyes glance over to the clock that sits beside the bed, and she bites her lip when she sees that it reads "04:56 . ” It's not _that_ early, she supposes. She's got by on less sleep before. Of course, the situations were completely different, given that before, the lack of sleep was by choice, and not by demons plaguing her dreams. 

Her eyes land on the small leaflet that sits beside the clock then, and her brow furrows when she notices that it's a pamphlet for the motel. She wanders over to it and picks it up, reading through it and she feels herself grinning when she sees it: _seven minute walk from the nearby library._

If Anna the angel won't tell her anything about Sam and Dean, she's just going to have to rely on two of her oldest friend s . The internet and research.  

So, that's how she finds herself walking down the street at five in the morning, following the signs that direct her to the library. 

It's still closed by the time she finds it, and when she looks inside and finds no-one there, she decides that breaking in maybe wouldn't be _that_ bad of an idea. It wouldn't be the first time she's broke into a building that she wasn't supposed to be in. Especially since she started hunting with her mom before… well, before everything went to Hell. Literally. 

She walks around the building, and when she finds a window at the back of it, she grins to herself. She has no idea where Anna is, but she seriously hopes that she isn't going to randomly pop out of thin air like Dean told her Cas always does. Even more so when angels are supposed to be all righteous and that; she probably wouldn't approve of her breaking into a library - especially if she knew what she was going to be using the library for. 

When the window is broken with a stone that she finds, she manages to open it and slide in. Luckily there is no alarm or cameras in the building, which makes sense. Who would expect anyone to break into a library? That's the sort of thing that would make the news for how crazy it is. 

She just hopes and prays that this library has what she's looking for, otherwise all this effort would just be waste energy. 

However, as she walks past the final aisle of bookshelves, she finds just what she's looking for. A set of four computers; sure, they look like they belong in a museum for being the first desktop computers ever made, but she has no doubt in her mind that they have internet and would offer everything that she is looking for. 

Jo exhales sharply as she moves over to the computer and starts one up, her eyes flickering around the room for any sign of people coming in, when she notices the piece of paper sitting on the front desk. 

She wanders over to it as she still waits for the computer to warm up, and she grins when she reads what it says. 

_Mon - Fri: 8am to 9pm._  
Sat: 10am - 4pm.  
Sun: closed.  

She's definitely got some sort of lucky charm on her, apparently, as she realises that today is in fact a Sunday, and that no-one will be coming to open the library up, or  g oing around to find the window smashed. She's going to be fine, and she hopes, that by the time someone comes around and sees the damage, she will be long gone from wherever she is. 

She turns back to the computer, and as she logs onto the internet, she finds herself wondering why  there would be a library in the middle of nowhere. She can understand a motel on the edge of the  highway , that's nowhere in particular; why would they bother to have a library?

She doesn't really care, though, as the internet browser pops up and she swallows hard, before she reaches for the mouse. She directs it to the search bar, and as she lets out a shaky breath, she types in " _Sam and Dean Winchester_ _,_ _”_ not really expecting anything to come up, because Sam and Dean were masters in keeping under the radar. 

So maybe that's why she's so surprised when pages and pages turn up, and she frowns as her eyes flick over all the titles of the links on the first page. 

**"Winchester brother's back from dead: shoot up bank."**

**"The Supernatural Wiki: Carver Edlund's world."**

**"Fire at police station - serial killers, Sam and Dean Winchester, burnt with it."**

Her eyes widen with each link, and she can't understand what the hell is happening. Just what have Sam and Dean been getting up to when she was in Hell? Shooting up a bank and a diner, and being burnt in a fire in a police station?

'What the _fuck_?' She mutters as she continues to scroll down. She knows about the Carver Edlund books. Sam and Dean had filled her in on those, especially when she was featured in them a couple of times. Whenever her story entwined with Sam and Dean's… there she was, in a book. 

But that just… she stops in her thoughts, when she realises just what that means. There's books about Sam and Dean's lives… maybe they have continued to be published, and they can tell her exactly what happened. 

She scrolls back up to the link that takes her to a Wikipedia page specifically for the series, and tries to find out what exactly happened in the time she was in Hell. 

It even feels weird thinking about that; she doesn't know how to feel whenever she thinks "my time in Hell, ” or when she finds her mind going back to Anna's earlier statement… _four years_ in Hell? How did she survive that long? Why d oes n't she have black eyes? Why  i sn't she just a puff of black smoke? 

Isn't that what happened when you spent time in Hell. Surely the process of becoming a demon wasn't just torturing someone, because if that were true, Dean would be a demon. And he most certainly wasn't a demon.

Jo sighs before she shakes her head. Right now  is n't the time to start wondering about the process of becoming a demon. Right now  is trying to figure out just what the fuck Sam and Dean had been up to in her time down below. 

She moves the cursor to the search engine of the site, and type in the first thing she can think of: " _shooting a bank_ _._ _”_ She doesn't really expect anything to show up, not really, because that's just too vague and random, isn't it? 

But just as she's about to click the back button, ready to try something else, the page loads and she sees the link that reads " _Slash Fiction (book)_ _._ ” Jo clicks the link with a frown, trying not to think about why there needed to be an explanation of it being a book, and starts to read through the page. 

It's relatively short, but she can remember Dean saying something about the fan base not being that large for the book series, but everything makes sense… in a weird, twisted way, that Jo realises  they are perfectly consistent with Sam and Dean's life… only, she doesn't know of these creatures "leviathans . ” 

And she could…

'What the hell,' she mutters as she clicks out of the internet and takes a deep breath in. 'Anna? Uh… can you… come here, please?' 

When she looks around, she notices that the angel isn't in the room with her, and with a sigh, she remembers why. She can't fly anymore; that's the reason she was exhausted and had to stop in this stupid motel in the first place. She's not just going to _poof_ into the room like Cas used to, because apparently, angels can't fly anymore. 

'Just my luck, get pulled from Hell by an angel who can't do shit.' Jo murmurs under her breath, before she makes a mental note of the word "leviathan , ” telling herself to remember and then ask Anna when she gets back to the motel room. 

However, as she goes to turn off the computer, she gets an idea. She reopens the internet browser, and after chewing at her bottom lip, weighing up whether or not this was _really_ a good idea, she types in what she's looking for.

If anyone checks the history of these computers regularly, they're going to think a serial killer broke in, checking up on their work, as she types in searches for "strange" deaths; ones that are normally called "freak accidents or attacks" by everyone else, but every hunter out there knows what's really doing the killing. 

She doesn't really know what she's looking for, she's just… _curious_ if there are any cases around her. That's all. She's been out of the game for so long, she's just curious if she can still notice when it's _their_ kind of thing. It has nothing to do with the hope that there's a case in the nearby area, and that Sam and Dean will be out to investigate and deal with the monster. 

Nothing at all. 

Okay, maybe that's a lie, she finally admits to herself as she sighs and clicks on the fifth link. The other four were busts, she knew that much. Sure, one or two could have , _maybe've_ _,_ been a monster, but judging from the fact they were both two months ago, she knows that a hunter would've taken care of it by now, or the damn thing would've moved on.

It's when she opens the sixth link, growing more frustrated with every passing second, she hits the mother load.

_"_ **Two killed in savage bear attack… in area with no bears. Sign of the world ending?** _"_ it reads, and Jo can't help but roll her eyes. She can understand the scepticism of the kills being caused by a bear, but why does that automatically equate to the world ending? She doesn't really pay attention to the article ’ s ramblings, despite the fact she's deeply interested in how the man's mind works. Instead, she just skims through the lines and lines of chatter about rumours, and apparent "prophecies" that say the world is coming to an end when animals are found in areas they are not native to. 

'Salina, Kansas?' She murmurs, her eyes reading and rereading the location, before a grin appears on her lips. That's only a two hour drive from where she is now. And, judging from the fact that article is only two days old, the hunter is still going to be in town… if they've even got there yet that is.

She grins as she logs out of the computer, shutting it down and once she's sure that there's no-one around once more, she slips out of the window and makes her way back to the motel room. 

Anna is there when she reenters the room, and Jo takes in a sharp breath as she does so, the surprise of seeing the redhead sitting on the bed in front of her making her wish she once again had her knife. 

'I heard your prayer, but I couldn't come to you. You didn't tell me where you were.' Anna declares as she stands from the bed, giving Jo a kind smile. 'What did you want me for?' 

Jo opens her mouth, ready to tell her that they needed to go to Salina, but then she realises just what a stupid idea that would be. That'd be openly admitting to not trusting the angel that pulled her from Hell; that would be openly admitting that she didn't trust her to take her to her family.

So, with this in her mind, Jo closes her mouth and swallows hard, 'What are leviathans?' 

Anna doesn't say anything, not for a minute, and it's enough to make Jo wonder if she had said something wrong, but she can't think of anything in that question that was _wrong_.

'Why do you want to know that? In fact, _how_ do you know about that?' Anna asks, and Jo can't help the frown that pulls at her face. _That's_ her concerns. Why she wanted to know about it? 

'I did some Googling about Sam and Dean, and,' she takes a pause, wondering if that is her admitting her guilt, despite trying not to, but she mentally shakes her head and decides there's no need in feeling guilty. 'I saw something about them shooting up a bank, and then dying in a fire at a station. Then I went onto a Wikipedia page for the books about their lives, and well… it said that those incidents were caused by leviathan clones, and I've never heard of those before.' 

Anna's eyes narrow for a split second, but then she sighs and the expression of annoyance is gone from her face and she looks… she looks _tired_ Jo realises; reluctant. The angel runs a hand through her hair and sits back down on the bed. 

'They are the first creatures created by my Father. But they were so evil that he made Purgatory just to lock them inside.' Anna explains, before she bites her lower lip, and Jo finds herself wandering over to sit down beside her. Their thighs are pressed together, and when Anna lifts her head, she gives Jo a smile that Jo can't help but return. 'They were… they were brought onto Earth…' 

Her voice is soft as she speaks, and Jo finds it strange, how a creature so powerful as an angel, can sound so small and weak. Jo is tempted to reach out and touch her, to try and comfort her and help her finish that sentence, but before she can even twitch her finger, Anna blinks and everything seems to change. 

'They're gone now. And Dean and Sam are safe. Everything is fine now.' Anna declares, her voice no longer sounding small. Instead, her voice is back to being strong, the same voice that shows just how many years of celestial intent is buried beneath the thin layer of skin. 

'I… okay.' Jo trails off, giving a shake of her head because no, she is not getting into this now. The stupid creature can't seem to give straight answers, and Jo is tired of trying, and of the constant feeling of pulling teeth in order to get _some_ answer from the angel. 'I, uh, I did some research whilst I was at the library.' 

Anna raises her eyebrow at her, and Jo bites her lip to stop anything else from coming out without being thought through; seeing as the first thing on her tongue was "of _course_ you understood that . ” 

'Yeah, and there's a case not that long from here. Salina, Kansas. I was thinking about checking it out. Just to make sure that someone is covering it.' Jo explains, wiping down her hands on her jeans, before she makes her way to the clothes she had discarded the night before. She picks them up, bundling them into a ball before she tucks them under her arm. 

When she turns back around to face Anna, the angel is staring at her, hazel eyes narrowed. 

'Why do you want to do that?' 

Jo's brow furrows, 'I told you. I just want to make sure it's being covered. We're probably the closest to it, so might as well kill the monster that's doing it and then head to Sam and Dean. It'll take us like, three days, tops. As eager as I am to get to my family, I'm a hunter.' 

'I only know where Sam and Dean are _now_. They could move by the time your little hunt is finished. We need to move now.' Anna declares, her voice fierce and she moves to stand in front of Jo. She towers over her, but Jo doesn't cower; her brown eyes lock onto Anna's and she cocks her head to the side. 'And besides, Sam and Dean are in the opposite direction of Salina; of Kansas.' 

Jo stays silent, biting the inside of her cheek in order to stop herself from saying anything else. She takes a deep breath in, before she lets it out in a chuckle. 

'What did I tell you? I don't care whether it's the opposite direction. My life is dedicated to saving people and hunting things. I am going to Salina, with or without you, _Anna_ , in order to burn or stab or _shoot_ whatever is hurting the people in that town.' Jo declares, her voice low and fierce enough to match Anna's. 'You don't need to come if you don't want to, but if you think you're holding me back, you have another thing coming.' 

Anna's jaw clenches for a moment, and a movement causes Jo's eyes to flicker down to her hands. There she sees Anna's hands clenched into fists, but if anything, she knows what happens when an angel move their hands like that. They can procure their angel Blade. 

'Wouldn't it be wasted effort, raising me from Hell only to thro w me back in the pit, because I don't agree with you. No wonder you guys don't get much work done, if that's the sort of hasty decisions you make.'

'Watch your tongue,' Anna snaps, before she turns on her heel and moves towards the door. Jo's nostrils flare and she takes the clothes from under her arm, just so she has something to scrunch and take her anger out on. 

She doesn't even know where Anna is going, or where she storms off to, but she doesn't care. She merely grabs everything she needs, even making sure to grab the toiletries from the bathroom and shove them in the first bag that she finds. 

Jo slings it over her shoulder, before she walks out of the door, happy whens  s he finds no-one manning the reception. Good. She's going to get away without paying, and without anyone realising that she's stealing half of their room. 

She just wishes they carried guns or something.  

She heads for the car she stole, finding Anna already there, leaning against the passenger door. Jo digs the keys out from her jean's pocket, unlocking the trunk and throwing the bag in along with the junk that the previous owner had stashed there. 

Just as she's about to close the trunk, she catches the sight of something glittering. With a frown, she reaches out with her hand and grabs ahold of the handle, letting out a chuckle when she sees what it is. 

She pulls the blade close to her face, seeing herself grin in the reflection. 

'God bless America.' She whispers softly, pressing a soft kiss to the blade before she stuffs it into her jacket pocket. 

She then slams the trunk shut, walking to the driver's side, not even caring that Anna doesn't move as she shuts the door behind her, slides the key into the hole and turns the engine on. She revs it once to get Anna's attention, and grins when the angel pulls her door open, her jaw clenched tightly as she does so. 

'Hey! Wait! You haven't paid!' A voice shouts, just as Jo is about to say something to Anna. Her head whips around to the door of the motel once more, finding the old woman that had checked them in standing there, waving her hands over her head. 

' _Shit_!' Jo exclaims, before she slips the car into drive, slamming her foot onto the accelerator and grinds her teeth together when the wheels spin, causing her a second or two delay. 

However, it doesn't take long for the car to sort itself out, and it takes off down the road with a jump . Jo laugh s as she rejoins the highway, unable to stop the hysterical laughing escaping her. 

'God, I've missed that!' She declares, before she turns her head to look at Anna, only to find her staring at the front, jaw still firmly locked in place. 'Right, what're you pissed about? The fact that we're going to Salina or the fact I took your daddy's name in vain?' 

Jo sees Anna grind her teeth together, her nostrils flaring as she does so, but she doesn't answer. 

'Oh, I see, the silent treatment. My mom was the best at that, y'know.' Jo mutters before she turns her eyes back onto the road. 

After realising that she's not going to get _any_ reply from Anna, she reaches out and turns the radio on, letting the sound of _Metallica_ fill the car. 

_ ~oOoOoOoOoOo~ _

When they finally drive by the sign that says "Welcome to Salina , ” Anna still hasn't said a word to Jo. Not that she really cared, because she managed to find an awesome radio station that played non-stop classic rock, so she was more than happy to nod her head and sing along to that, watching the countryside fly by her. 

She really shouldn't have expected the angel to crack anyways… and she didn't really. After all, she was a creature that had lived for many millennia… she was _used_ to patience; hell, they were probably the damn things that created patience. And stubbornness. 

However, what she doesn't expect is for Anna to actually speak to her as she draws the car to a halt in front of the police station. 

'How are you supposed to convince them that you're FBI?' Anna questions, and Jo's surprise must show on her face as she turns her head to look at the angel, for Anna rolls her eyes with a small scoff. 

Jo shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts that the angel is talking to her again, and how she actually _missed_ hearing her voice, and instead replies, 'I'm not.' 

'Then how  d o you expect to get any information? Even Sam and Dean need some disguise!' 

'Because I have something that Sam and Dean don't,' she replies with a smirk, before she shuts the car off and pulls the keys out. She shrugs out of her jacket as she approaches the station, wrapping it around her hips and tying it securely there. She's mindful of the knife she has stashed there, and just before she enters the police station, she checks herself in the glass doors, making sure that it's not visible. 

She holds the door open for Anna, grinning when she sees Anna's dubious expression.

'You're going to flirt your way into the morgue?' Anna asks, her scepticism evident in her voice and Jo can't help the giggle that breaks free from her lips. 

''Course I'm not. I'm going to flirt my way into the officer's belt and steal his keys,' she replies in a soft whisper, as they finally approach the desk. 

'Excuse me,' Jo starts, smiling down at the officer who sits behind the desk. 'I was wondering if you could help me. I'm… I'm a bit lost.' 

The man looks up at her, and she can't help but bite her lip as she tries not to smile wider and look like a creep. The man isn't actually that ugly, which is going to make everything a hell of a lot easier. His blue eyes dart to Jo's lips as she entrap them between her teeth, and she notices him swallow hard.

'What can I help you with, ma'am?' He asks as he stands from his seat, apparently deciding to ignore the paperwork that he was doing before Jo interrupted him. 

'Well, you see, I'm trying to figure out how to get to…' she pauses, raking her head for a destination that's completely out of place for where she is. However, with a small smile on her face, she instead picks a place that's still in Kansas, because it was Sam and Dean that gave her the boost into this kind of life. Why not pay a little homage to them? 'Lawrence. I've got family there, you see. But it's the first time I've been and I don't know, I just seem to have gotten lost!' 

The man gives a small chuckle, but he doesn't make any move to come out from around his desk. Jo tries not to grind her teeth together and actually show her frustration. The idiot needs to step out and around his desk, and stand in front of Jo for this to work! 

'It's actually quite easy,' he declares, before he starts rattling off instructions on how to get from Salina to Lawrence, and with a barely suppressed frustrated groan, Jo gives him a smile and almost goes to leave, but before she can turn, Anna's hand is on hers and holding her in place. 

'Would you…would you mind showing us? It's just, my hearing isn't good sadly, and well, I wouldn't want her getting us lost again.' She gives the man a soft, kind smile and Jo's brow furrows as she turns her head to look at Anna. 

The angel doesn't turn her head to look back at her, merely continues to stare that police officer down with warm hazel eyes, and Jo swallows hard, trying not to think… well, anything. Especially about how warm Anna's gaze seems to be, and how soft her lips look and that she's actually helping Jo, despite the fact she was pissed to begin with. 

'Of course,' the man says after only a brief moment of deliberation, and he comes out from around the back of his desk, and Jo's eyes zone in on the keys that clatter and clang against each other, from their place on his belt. 

It's at that precise moment, as they turn to follow the officer as he walks them to the door in order to show them the directions, that Jo realises that she and Anna's hands are still together in a soft and gentle grasp. She bites her bottom lip, before she takes a deep breath and pulls her hand free, trying not to think about how _warm_ Anna's hand actually was. 

As the officer comes to a halt, pointing out the directions to Anna with a soft voice, Jo gets to work. She lets Anna keep distracting the officer by asking for significant landmarks that would give her a sign that they're on the right path, as she slips the keys off the officer's belt. 

'Uh,' she interrupts, once she tucks them into her own pocket. He turns back to her, and Jo hopes that he doesn't miss the clang of the keys, otherwise they're screwed. 'Is there's a little girl's room around here? Y'know, before the long trip?' She gives the officer a small, bashful smile.

Jo bites her lower lip, hoping to god that this actually works, and then lets out a quiet sigh of relief when the officer nods his head, giving her directions to the bathroom.

'Do I need to show you?' He asks with a cheeky smile, and it's all Jo can do to stop herself from punching the smile off his face. Instead, she gives him a chuckle in reply, turning on her heel after shaking her head, and walking to the bathroom with her teeth grinding together loud enough that it'll probably end up on the microphones. 

She makes out that she's going to turn down the corridor towards the bathroom, but before she does, she quickly looks back and sees that Anna is still distracting the officer at the door, and instead heads down the opposite corridor; the one that'll take her to the morgue. 

She hopes that no-one is going to be there, otherwise that is definitely going to be hard to explain, and even harder to get out of. Maybe that's why she sighs in relief when she finally reaches the morgue and realises that no-one its here to witness her sneak in. 

'Right, where the hell are you?' She whispers as she looks at all the doors on the mortuary refrigerators. She bites her bottom lip before she shakes her head. 

 _Check the paperwork, first, idiot_ , she hisses to herself, somehow hearing Dean's voice as she does so. She shakes that thought from her mind, and walks over to the doctor's desk, rifling through the reports trying desperately to find the victim's. 

When she finds it, she flicks it open and smirks when she sees that they've completed the autopsy but haven't released the body yet. 

'Mauled by a bear?' Jo whispers as she reads the cause of death, before she rolls her eyes. How can people still not question things? How can people see something like this and not decide to question it? Decide that there's no point in examining things further and rule it off as a one-time-thing? A random occurrence by a random bear that's never before stepped foot in their city. 

How is the knowledge of what really goes bump in the night not widely known yet? 

Instead of trying to get to the bottom of the question, Jo sets the report back on the desk before dishing out the small, cheap phone that she got with the car. She takes a photo of each page, before she slips it back into the pile it had previously sat in. 

She then moves over to the drawer that it said the body was in and pulls it open, sliding the table out and grimacing as she does so. 

There's nothing left of the poor man's face, and Jo wonders how they even got a identification of him. Once again, that thought is saved for another time and she snaps a few photos of him, ready to have a look at them when they get to a motel. She knows that being able to look over the victim in person is better, but with no suit, no fake-ID and having next to no time left, she's just going to have to make do. 

She slides the victim back into his section and then stashes the phone back into her pocket. 

She leaves the morgue then, shutting and locking the door behind her, and makes her way back to the front door.

'I was beginning to think you got lost!' Anna's voice says as soon as her hazel eyes land on Jo, and Jo gives her a small, victorious smile. Anna returns it with an eye roll, but Jo would be lying if she said there wasn't a hint of amusement around the angel's eyes. 

'It wouldn't be the first time.' Jo replies smoothly, walking up to Anna, who had began walking towards her, and slipping her arm through Anna's before she even realises what she's doing. 

She turns back to the officer, giving him a kind smile, 'Thanks for your help.' 

When they turn, she discreetly sets the keys on the desk that the officer was previously sitting at, and then turns with Anna in tow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


	4. We Know How This Began

Jo paces back and forth, looking at the photos on her phone, a frown etched deep on her face as she does so. She wishes there was a damn zoom button on the thing, but she realises that may be a push, seeing as she's lucky there's actually a _camera_ on it at all.

'I just… my mind's went blank. What _does_ this?' She sighs as she sits back down on the bed beside Anna, who quickly snatches the phone out of her grasp and stares at the pictures. 

'I'd say werewolf, but the lunar cycle doesn't fit. The next full moon isn't for another fourteen days.' Anna hands Jo the cellphone back and sighs. 'It could just be a spirit, Jo. Maybe we should try digging up the history of this place and see whether or not someone has died a similar death?' 

Jo turns her head, fixing Anna with a stare that has the angel bristling, her back straightening and her chin raising. 

Jo smirks when she notices and can't help the chuckle that escapes, 'Thought you didn't want to hunt?' 

'I thought _you_ wanted to find the Winchesters. It's not my fault you demanded we come here; I'm just trying to make things easier so we can start the journey _back_ the way we came from.' Anna retorts as she stands, crossing her arms over her chest for a moment, before she rolls her eyes and turns towards the door. 

Her hand is on the door handle before Jo even realises what she's doing, and she's out of the motel room before Jo can even tell her to wait up. 

'Angels, man.' Jo sighs before she pockets the cellphone, after checking to see how much battery there was in the thing. She didn't notice any charger lying about the car she stole, so when it dies, she's got no way of charging it. She's got to start using it sparingly from now on. 

She heads towards the door, after grabbing ahold of her jacket which still has the knife hidden in its pocket. 

However, as she steps outside the motel room she stops dead, her eyes zoning in on the man stepping out of a car that's parked two down from hers. 

'I know him. He used to go the Roadhouse.' She explains to Anna, and before the angel can even say something about not approaching the other hunter, Jo is taking off, walking down towards the hunter with a frown on her face. 

She swallows hard as she approaches him, hoping that he's not someone that heard about her death. Surely not everyone in the hunting community heard that her and her mom died. Otherwise that's going to cause some pretty serious problems for her right now. 

'It's uh…' she rakes her mind as she finally reaches the man, trying to think of his name, and she _really_ should've thought of his name before opening her mouth, because now he's staring at her, his hand resting on the waistband of his jeans, and Jo just knows what's only a twitch away from his grasp. 'Peter, right?' 

He studies her for a second, and Jo hopes that it's really the man who she thinks it is, otherwise this is just going to be awkward as hell to explain, but suddenly recognition floods his face, and his hand falls away from the waistband of his jeans. Okay, good, he knows who she is.

And by the looks of things, he doesn't know that she died. 

'Ellen Harvelle's kid, right?' He questions, pointing his finger to her and when Jo nods her head, he gives a laugh. 'Yeah, I thought so. Gosh, you grew up. Where's your mom? I heard the Roadhouse had burnt down?' 

Jo bites her lower lip, because oh, she didn't really think this through at all. How the hell is she supposed to talk about her mother now? When she was pulled from Hell by an angel and her mom… her mom was still down there? How was she supposed to talk about her without feeling guilt and shame claw at her insides? 

'She uh… she uh…' 

'She's away doing some research on the case,' Anna's voice is right beside her, and Jo can't help but snap her head to the side, gazing at the angel with a sort of fondness. That's twice she's saved her from a situation like this. Huh… maybe there was something good about her. Maybe not all angels were douches like Dean said they were.

'I didn't know this case was covered,' Peter murmurs as he gazes between Anna and Jo, and Jo can see exactly what he's thinking: who the hell is the redhead? There's no denying that Anna wasn't about when the Roadhouse was still standing, and there's absolutely no evidence of her ever existing in the hunting life before now. No doubt he's confused or worried. 

'We just arrived. But we could appreciate the help; I've been out of the hunting life for a while.' Jo mutters, the last statement more to herself than anyone else, but Peter picks up on it anyways, and cocks his eyebrow at her in questioning. 'Y'know, mom and me tried rebuilding our lives after the Roadhouse burnt down, and when we realised that it wasn't going to work, we got back into hunting. But that was… I haven't had a hunt in _years_. I'm rusty.' 

'Have you been to the police station?' 

'Briefly. Didn't have any fake ID on me to get in, but I sneaked a couple of photos.' Jo explains, and Peter nods his head, his eyes flicking back to his car before he turns back to Jo.

'I'll have a nosy and see what I can find. I'll meet you back here in an hour?' 

'The library.' Anna jumps in, just as Peter went to turn away from them and get something from his car. 'Meet us at the library. We're going to do some research to see what we can find, going by what we've got so far.' 

'Thought Ellen was doing that?' 

He looks even more confused than the last time Anna spoke, and whilst she rescued Jo from an awkward situation, she's now starting to regret letting her speak. Peter doesn't trust her; that much is evident. Though, if it had to come down to it, Jo's going to trust the angel that pulled her from Hell over the creep that stalked her mother's bar. 

'She is. But when she hears there's four people working on this cage, she'll realise that's too much for one and will move on to the next one, in the next city. It makes sense, doesn't it?' She doesn't give Peter a time to process that, let alone answer. 'So, we'll get you at the library where we can narrow things down further with any new information you have, kill whatever the hell is causing these deaths, and then Jo and I can leave and start our journey in the _right direction_.' 

The emphasis on the last two words do not go unnoticed by either of the people listening, but Jo decides that now is not the right time to bring up _that_ topic of argument again, so merely turns her gaze back to Peter, who looks so confused he looks like he's in pain. 

'That okay with you?' 

'Uh… yeah,' he blinks, his gaze refocusing on Jo once more. 'I'll see you two back at the library in an hour then.' 

And with that, he turns and gets into his car, leaving Jo and Anna alone. 

'What was that?' Jo questions, rounding on Anna the second Peter's car disappears from their sight. 

'Too many questions and not enough ideas. Look, I'm okay with humans, but there comes a time when you just can't deal with them and the way they think they can order creatures like me about. I am a _celestial being_ ; I can kill people like you with the touch of my fingertips, and I don't like being talked to as if I couldn't add two and two together. So forgive me for teaching the guy a lesson or two. Now, are we going to the library for research or what?'

And with a small smirk on her lips at Anna's rant - that made her seem more human than any angel should be able to pull off - Jo follows her into the car and takes off in the direction of the nearest library, hoping she doesn't have to break into this one. 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

The library is far too warm for her liking, and she wonders _why_ she's still here. She's not denying that the books that lie in front of her are definitely useful, and the research is definitely needed, but right now, all she wants to do, is go back to the hotel. 

'I think I've found something.' Peter declares and Jo's eyes finally refocus and they dart to Anna first, before they land on Peter. There's something in Anna's eyes when she meets them, but she can't decipher it, not when Peter is talking again. 'It says here that a Eva Bedford was killed much in the same ways of our victims, right down to the ripped face and broken neck.' 

'What happened to her?' Jo asks. 

'Well, police ruled her death as accidental, but her family was determined that someone had done something to her. They found her at the bottom of a manhole and everyone reckoned that she just fell, but her family continued to say that she was pushed.' Anna answers, having snatched the book from Peter's hands. 

'I'm guessing it doesn't say anything about _who_ they thought pushed her?' 

Anna shakes her head and Jo sighs. She looks around herself and when she spots the computers sitting a few feet away, she stands without another word and heads over to them. 

She hears Anna and Peter follow her, but she pays no attention to them as she sits down and opens the internet browser. 

 _Eva Bedford death, Salina, Kansas_ , she types into the search engine, hoping that something half decent pops up. 

When she sees one link that reads " **On 20-Year Anniversary of Daughter's Death, Father Speaks Out** ", she decides that's her best bet and clicks on it. 

"Eugene Bradford, father of the Eva Bedford, who died twenty years ago today at the age of seventeen, speaks out against the accidental ruling of his daughter's death. 

'My daughter was bullied. I know it. She'd come home crying about it; about the recent things she did. Those girls pushed her. I know it.' Mr. Bradford declared, and when prompted by questions on who "those girls" were, he answered in such. 'Those Russell twins.'

We suspect he was referring to the twins Justina and Jamilia Russell, who were in the same class as Eva. They were not available for an interview and their family refused to speak to us."

Jo scrolls through the rest of the article, finding that the rest of it is just gibbering and repeating what they already know. It isn't until she reaches the bottom of the page that she finds something of interest and she smirks, because _yes_ , that's what they're looking for. 

"UPDATE: Two days after this article was published, both Jamilia and Justina were found dead in their family home. Click here to read more about it".

'They were killed two weeks ago.' Jo whispers, trying to fight back the smirk that's tugging at her lips, desperately trying to widen, because this just isn't something she should be smiling at. 'And you'll never guess who the latest vic is… Jamilia's husband.' 

She turns her head back to face Anna and Peter, who both look like they're fighting the same desire to smirk at such morbid news. That's the last thing they need… looking like they could be the killer. 

'Was Justina married?' Anna questions, resting her hand on Jo's shoulder as she leans forward to check the screen. Jo tries to ignore the bolt of electricity that shoots through her body at the simple touch, and she can't decide if it's just because it's Anna that's touching her, or if it's just her grace passing through her. 

Her hand fits over Jo's that's still on the mouse, and she manoeuvres both of their hands in order to scroll down the page and find the answer to her question. 

'So, Justina was married with two kids and Jamilia was married with one child. Do you think the ghost of Eva will target Justina's husband, or do you think she'll stick to taking out Jamilia's family?' Anna questions when she gets her information. 

'Either way we don't want to risk it. We need to find out where she's buried and salt and burn her, before she even gets the chance to think about hurting the children.' Jo declares, before she pulls her hand out from under Anna's, and then takes the mouse away from her. She clicks on a few links, trying to find the location of her gravesite and when she gets it, she lets out a hiss. 

'She's not buried in Salina. She's buried twenty-five miles outside it.' 

' _Why_?' Peter questions, speaking for the first time since he said that Eva Bradford fit their profile. 

'Doesn't say. It's marked by a homemade wooden cross though.'

She turns back to Anna and Peter, the plan already set in her mind. 

'Peter and I will go and do the salt and burn, then he'll drop me back here and he can leave. We'll stay another day, just to get out bearings again.' 

'And what the hell am I supposed to do?' Anna snaps, and Jo finds her eyes darting over to the redhead, her eyes seemingly unable to decide where it wants to focus more; her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, her _mouth_. They can't decide. 

'You'll be back at the hotel because we need to keep the rooms, and anymore than three it'll draw attention. Not to mention, you've never been on a salt and burn.' 

'I've dealt with much worse things, _believe_ me.' Anna hisses in return and even though Jo knows that's probably true, she's not in the mood for this argument, especially when Peter is still there, staring at them both with a frown on his face. 

'Look, I _know_ , but just trust me, okay? It'll do you good to do nothing.' Jo advises and when Anna doesn't protest any further, she takes it to mean that she's willing to stay in the motel room and do nothing. 

'Good,' Jo nods her head. 'Let's go and wait at the motel until it's dark enough to go then.' 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Jo points her hand at the side of the road when she notices the cross, and Peter nods his head in return, pulling over to park the car beside it. 

They get out and pull the shovels out of the trunk before they set to work. 

Jo's huffing by the time they get to the coffin; dirt and gravel clings to her clothes, is matted in her hair and she's pretty sure is spread over her face, clinging to the sweat that's pouring out of her body. She hadn't really thought about using her dirty hand to wipe away the sweat until Peter had started laughing at her. 

She grabs ahold of Peter's hand, letting him help her out of the grave they had dug, after she had smashed the lid of the coffin, revealing the body of Eva Bradford. 

'Let's get her salted and burnt. This is freaking me out.' Jo declares as she grabs the can of gasoline as Peter grabs ahold of the bag of salt. She sees Peter roll his eyes, but he doesn't say anything about her comment, he only starts pouring the salt on top of the body. Once he's finished salting the body, Jo moves so she can throw the gasoline in to the grave, in order to set the body on fire. 

'D'you want to do the honours?' Peter grins as he hands her the matches and Jo gives him a grin in return as she takes ahold of them. She strikes it on the rough edge and when the flame appears, she drops it into the grave, watching as it meets the gasoline and bursts into large, warm flames. 

'That was easier than it normally is.' Peter murmurs, before he heads back to the car with only a backwards glance at the grave. 

Jo offers him a smile as they climb into the car, and they drive in silence until the lights for Salina come into view once more.

'Just drop me off here, it'll be easier for you to leave rather than taking me all the way in.' Jo declares, and even though Peter looks sceptical, he pulls the car over by the "Welcome to Salina" sign, and shuts the car off. 

Jo gets out the car and tries not to think it weird when Peter does to. He's proved himself helpful… she shouldn't be doubting him now. 

'Take care of yourself, Jo. And say hi to your mom for me.' He declares as he holds out his hand for Jo to shake. 'You're a damn good hunter. Your daddy would be proud.' 

Jo feels a wide smile pulling at her lips, and she can't seem to stop the tears from stinging in her eyes. From the mention of both her mother and father. 

'Thanks for the help, Peter.' She mutters before she lets go of his hand and turns, ready to start the walk back to the hotel. 

However, something pops into her head and she finds herself slowing down, unable to stop herself from thinking that it just may work.

'Hey, Peter,' Jo starts, turning back to face him after biting her lower lip in deliberation. She has no doubt in her mind that this is either going to be the best idea she's ever had, or the worst. 'Do you have Sam or Dean Winchester's number on you? The ones I've got are saying that the number isn't recognised.' 

He gives her a frown, something that shows that he still doesn't trust her. Not completely anyway, but there's apparently some sort of instinct telling him that she's the real Jo Harvelle, for he clears his throat and reaches into his pocket, pulling out his cell. 

Jo follows his example, pulling out the same disposable one she got when she stole the car, finding it stupid to steal another one, especially when it still works fine. 

She dials in the number as he reads it out, and when he's finished and they've both tucked their phones away, she gives him a kind smile, extending her hand towards him. 

'Thanks, Peter. Really.' She murmurs as he takes ahold of her hand and gives it a firm shake. 'For… _trusting_ me, I suppose.' 

'Well, if I ever had any doubt that you were a demon, I sure as hell don't now. I don't think those soulless bastards could ever think that up. It's good to see you back, kid.' He declares as he lets go of her hand. He gives her a warm smile in return, before he turns and walks back to his car, waving his hand over his shoulder when Jo calls out and says she'll see him again. 

As soon as his car is out of her view, she digs into her pocket and pulls her cellphone out once more, going into her contacts and scrolling through them until she comes across the label "Dean W,” which was the first thing she thought of when she was entering the number… she doesn't really know why she shoved the "W" in there in the first place, seeing as she didn't know any other Dean.

She bites her lower lip as she presses the call butting, and takes a deep breath before she raises it to her ear. It actually rings this time, and she takes it as a good sign, seeing as the last one didn't ring at all. She continues to gnaw at her lower lip until the ringing stops and a voice is on the other end. 

' _Hello_?' 

It's definitely Dean, she knows that much, but his voice is gruffer and deeper than she can remember. Maybe it's because of that she doesn't reply or talk straight away. Maybe it's because she can't actually believe that it's really him on the other end of the phone. 

' _Who is this_?' 

She clears her throat, closing her eyes before she whispers, 'Dean?'

There's a brief pause, and she can almost guess what he looks like. A frown of disbelief on his face, as he hears her voice; the voice of Jo Harvelle, the woman he watched die… his little sister. He'd be thinking it's a joke; he'd be thinking it's not real. 

' _Who is this?_ ' He repeats, and something has changed in his voice. He's closing himself off, not allowing himself to hope, and no doubt he's probably thinking that this isn't Jo… this is a demon pretending to be her.

'I've got a hunt for you.' She declares softly, not even bothering to change her voice. He can either chose to remember hers or think that someone else just sounds surprisingly similar. 'It's in Salina, Kansas. I'll be here for another two days, so if you're interested, I'd get your ass down here.' 

She hears Dean inhale, ready to start asking more questions and Jo can't do that right now. She can't start talking to him over the phone and miss the chance of seeing her. If he is still the Dean Winchester that she remembers, then surely his curiosity will get the better of him; surely he'll come to Salina, just to see what the hell is going on. 

Even if he thinks it's an ambush. 

'If you're not here by two days, I'll move on and forget about you, but I hope I don't need to do that,' she declares softly, truthfully, finding it weird to be admitting that to him. She hopes that he decides to come and find her. She can't bear the idea of having to wait two days and find out that he's given up on her. She's not ready to give up on him, and she hopes and prays he's not ready to give up on her. Even though he doesn't know if this is really her or not. 'I've missed you, Dean.' 

The last statement is added in a whisper, and she bites her lower lip before she pulls the phone away from her ear, pressing the "end" button. The line goes silent and she sighs as she lets her hand fall back to her side. She lets out a shaky breath before she pockets the cell once more. 

'C'mon, Dean, don't give up on me.' She prays, casting her eyes upwards to the sky before she starts the long walk back to the motel, where Anna is still probably waiting for her.

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Jo stares at the main road, arms folding tight over her chest as she leans against her car, foot brought up and pressed against the hard door. 

'What if they don't come?' Jo questions when she hears Anna's footsteps walk up beside her. She bites her lower lip as she turns her head to the angel. 

'I still say this is a mistake,' is Anna's reply, and Jo frowns before she rolls her eyes. 

'You're not still upset that I phoned them behind your back, are you?' Jo murmurs as she reaches up to run a hand through her hair, pushing it back out of her face from the wind that's trying to blow it in her face. 'It was a hasty decision. I wanted to get my family.' 

'I was _taking_ you to your family, but then you decided to go in the _opposite_ decision for a hunt.' Anna retorts, and Jo rolls her eyes again, unable to stop herself. Damn angels and their fucking stupid grudge-holding. 

'Shut up.' Jo mutters under her breath, as she turns her head back to the main road, having turned to gaze at Anna when she had brought up the hunt. Again. 'I still stand by my decision. Both of them.' 

She doesn't let Anna's reply come, for she pushes away from the car and walks away from her, moving onto the edge of the road to look out to the start of the town, where the sign still stands. She stands there for a minute or two, and there's still no sign of the distinct '67 Chevy Impala of Dean's. 

'How long are you going to wait here?' Anna questions, but Jo doesn't even bother to turn and face her. 

'As long as it takes for them to get here.' Jo replies, trying to ignore the voice in her head that tells her that they're never going to get here. 

'Then I'm going.' Anna declares, turning away from the car she was previously leaning against. She makes it four steps away before Jo is whirling around to face her.

'What the hell do you mean you're going?' 

'Meaning I'm going for a walk because standing here, waiting to see whether or not they'll show up is rather boring. So yeah, pray and let me know when or if they show, and I'll make my way back.' Anna states, and before Jo even has the chance to process that, let alone protest to it, she turns and starts walking away from the motel's car park, not looking back to Jo once. 

Jo's eyes stay on Anna's back until she turns a corner and can no longer see her, before she turns back to look at the road. 

She's not sure how long she stands there, watching car after car pass by her on the road, neither of them the large, black muscle car that Dean drives. She sighs, shaking her head before she turns and walks back over the car, pulling the keys out of her pocket as she does so. 

'I should just go, they're obviously not going to come.' Jo mutters as she gets to the car, but before she can stick the key in the hole to unlock the door, and before she can start her prayer to Anna, the sound of a car engine rumbling comes from behind them, and she turns back to the road with wide, hopeful eyes. 

Her eyes meet with Sam's through the window of the Impala, and a moment later, the Impala is jerking to a halt in the middle of the road. 

They don't move. Not for a good few seconds, and when they do, Jo can see that they've both got their guns at an easy reach, and that even Castiel looks like he's packing. Jo frowns, but decides it's not exactly stupid. They're probably thinking she's a demon, right?

Jo takes a hesitant step forward, feeling good when they don't go for their guns, and that their fingers don't even twitch to go towards them.

'Hey Sam, Cas,' she says, smiling wide as she stares at the family she thought she'd never see again. When her brown eyes land on Dean, she can feel tears stinging them, blurring her gaze and she feels her smile widening impossibly further. 

'Hey, Dean.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


	5. I'll Never Let You Go

Dean looks speechless. In fact, no, Dean _is_ speechless, Jo realises as she stands in front of him, twisting her hands as she does so, trying to figure out the best way to deal with all of this. 

She knows that Sam and Dean are carrying guns, and has no doubt in her mind that Cas either has a gun, or has his angel blade stashed away on his person, somewhere. She needs to fight back every single ounce of instinct, that's telling her to run to the man that's been her brother in so many ways and envelope him in her arms. She knows she can't do that; knows that what his motto is "shoot first, ask questions later.”

'How've you been?' She questions after a minute has ticked by, and neither of them have said a word. 

Dean blinks, shaking his head and turning his gaze onto Cas for a moment. There's a conversation going on there, Jo notes, just like what Dean and Sam can do. She's not surprised that Dean and the angel have grown close enough to have their own language in the time she spent in Hell, but it does still surprise her that Dean's let someone into his life and hasn't managed to successfully push them away. 

Sam is the first to speak, though, Dean apparently still too stunned to make his vocal chords work. 'How… how have _you_ been? You're… the last time we saw you…'

He doesn't finish, but the way he talks makes her think that he's not talking about her death; the way his eyes flicker towards Dean, looking as if he's getting ready to protect his brother from something… from her. 

She doesn't get a chance to express that thought, however, for Dean is suddenly speaking. 'You got a room at that motel?' 

Jo frowns at him, wondering where that question came from, but instead she nods her head and turns back towards it. She hears the scuff of their shoes on the ground, alerting her to the fact that they're following her. 

As soon as she's inside the room, she turns when she hears the door shut, but instead of being greeted by warm faces and open arms, Sam and Dean have pulled their guns from their hiding place, and have them pointed at Jo. 

She raises her hand immediately, her eyes widening as she calls out, 'What the hell, guys?' 

'Who are you?'

She frowns, her arms falling slightly but when they twitch their hands, she immediately straightens them again. 

'What do you mean? It's me, _Jo_. You called me your sister once!' She retorts , unable to stop herself from taking a step forward. 'Fine, you want me to prove it, would I say this if I were a demon? _Christo._ If you give me silver, I'll cut myself; give me holy water, I'll drink it. You wanna run through the entire exorcism, I'll stand here and take it. Just _believe me_ when I say I'm not a demon, or a shapeshifter, or ghoul. I'm you're _family_.' 

Dean studies her, green eyes roaming all over her body before they dart to her face again. He lowers his gun, stuffing it back into the back of his jeans, before he mutters, 'Prove it.' 

Before Jo can even ask him what he means, he's throwing a blade at her and she doesn't have time to think, for she needs to catch the damn thing before it ends up stabbing her. 

She knows what she's to do with the blade, as well as what's going to be in the small metal flask that Dean fishes out of his leather jacket's pocket, but she still can't help the feeling of disbelief that washes over her; the fact that she _needs_ to prove herself to them.

But she wants to prove herself nonetheless, because she needs to be with Dean and Sam and Cas again; she needs to be wrapped in arms for the first time in _years_ ; she needs to know that she was _missed_.

So, she takes the blade and rolls up her sleeve, revealing the soft unblemished skin of her arm. There used to be a scar there, from when she was playing about with her dad's knife and cut herself; there was a burn mark from when she got too close to the fire from a salt-and-burn. Now, there's nothing. It's just soft and smooth… her memories no longer etched into her skin.

Well, at least she's going to have something now. A cut that'll disappear in a while, but will remind her of the time she was reunited with her family until it does. She doesn't hiss as she drags the blade across her skin, because as she does, all she can think about is the time she spent in Hell… the times her body was torn open and the feel of her innards dripping from her body; she's had worse - much worse - than a stupid, little self-inflicted cut. 

A line of blood swells and bubbles up on her skin, but nothing else happens - like she knew it would - so she lifts her head and meets Dean's eyes. His expression is still unreadable, and all he does is throw the flask at her and order her to drink it. 

She sighs, throwing the silver blade onto the bed behind her, before she unscrews the lid of the flask.

With a small smirk on her lips, she lifts it to the three of them in a toast, before she raises it to her lips and down three gulps of the tasteless water. 

'So you gonna run through the exorcism now, or do you believe me?' Jo murmurs as she screws the lid back onto the flask, then turns and throws that onto the bed beside the silver dagger. 

When she turns around, she doesn't even have time to react, for Dean's arms are suddenly wound tight around her waist, burying her face into his chest as one hand comes up to cup the back of her neck, and suddenly, she's _home_.

Her arms automatically wrap around his waist in return, holding onto him as tight as she can, as she buries her face into his chest and inhales deeply. 

' _Jo_.' Dean breathes against the top of her head, and a moment later she feels his lips press firmly against the crown of her blonde locks. She pulls away from him when he lifts his head, and it isn't until she meets his green eyes that she realises there's tears stinging her eyes, and when she blinks, she feels something wet drip down her cheek.

'Jo.' Sam's voice seeps in through the silence, and Jo's brown eyes dart away from Dean's in order to meet Sam's. A smile breaks onto her lips at the look on his face, and she manages to disentangle herself from Dean's embrace and throws herself at Sam instead. 

His strong arms wrap around her small frame, and she can't help but chuckle when she feels his shaky exhale. 

'You're really here.' Sam whispers and Jo hears Dean's helpless chuckle in reply to his statement. 

'I'm really here.' She murmurs in reply, feeling the widest smile spread across her face. When Sam's arms loosen around her, she turns to the last man in the room, her eyes meeting Castiel's blue gaze with a cheeky smirk on her face. 

'Hello, Joanna.' 

'Hey, Cas.' She replies, lowering her arms from around Sam, before she finds herself shrugging mentally and throwing herself at him. She wraps her arms around his neck and presses her nose into the side of it, giving a chuckle as his arms flutter helplessly at her side for a moment, before they hesitantly wrap around her back.

'I think you've got a shot, Cas.' Dean teases, but when Jo pulls back there's a sort of wariness in his gaze, and Jo knows that expression, she's seen that expression often enough. 

'I still can't believe you’re here.' Sam declares before Jo can begin questioning Dean about his statement, and she turns away from Cas, moving back to stand in the place she was originally; right in front of the bed.

'I still haven't gotten over it either, if I'm honest.' She replies softly, moving backwards until her legs reach the edge of the bed, and as soon as she can, she sits down on the lumpy mattress. 

'How long have you been back for?' 

'Uh, five days? I'm not entirely sure. The hunt kind of distracted me from counting the days.' She admits.   

Dean chuckles, stepping forward until he's standing in front of her once more, effectively blocking her from everyone else's view, but Sam and Cas move then crowding around her in order to get a better view. 

'On a hunt as soon as you get back? I've got no doubts that you're the real Jo now.' Dean declares, before he clears his throat, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck nervously. 'How did… how did you… _how_?' 

'I was going to say would you believe me if I said an angel, but I have a feeling you would.' Jo murmurs, her eyes flickering between Castiel and Dean.

'An angel? What angel?' Dean demands, his eyes flickering briefly towards Cas once, and there's that silent conversation again.

'She actually was just here, but took off because she couldn't be bothered waiting.' Jo stands from the bed, and walks over to the door. When she opens it, she looks down the road and sees Anna walking towards the hotel once again. 'Here, she's coming.' 

She feels Dean step up behind her, looking over her head to see who she was talking about, but she doesn't see the expression on his face; doesn't see the way the colour drains from his face and his eyes widen slightly, before narrowing into slits. She does feel his hands, however, as they clench painfully on her upper arms and hauls her back inside the motel room, slamming the door shut behind them. 

'What the hell?' She snaps as he pushes her back so her legs are pressed against the bed once more, 

'It's Anna.' Dean declares cryptically, and immediately Cas and Sam spring into action. Sam unholsters his gun once more, following Dean's example, and Jo feels even more confused when Cas pulls his angel blade from the pocket inside his trench coat, instead of suddenly appearing like before.

'Yes. Anna. The angel that pulled me from Hell. What's the big deal?' Jo snaps, moving forward, to try and talk some sense into her family, but Dean is pushing her back again and holding her behind him, and then the door is swinging open and she's not got any time to try and stop them.

Anna's eyes are narrowed into slits as she enters the room, angel blade in hand as she surveys the room. 

'Are you going to listen or are you going to overreact and try to kill me like before?' Anna questions, her voice as soft as thunder, and it sends vibrations running through Jo's body. 'Remember, I've got an advantage over you now, I'm the only angel in this room. I can smite you all with a touch of my hand.'

'You're the only angel? What the hell about Cas?' Jo demands unable to stop herself. She tries to step around Dean, but he grabs ahold of her hand again and pulls her back. 'Dean, leave me alone! I don't know what the hell has happened between you, but if you were close enough to fuck her at one point, then put your guns down and hear her out. She did pull me from hell, after all!' 

'What d'you mean if we were close enough to fuck? How did you know about that?' 

'She told me!' Jo retorts. 'Listen, Dean, I know you're worried, but she pulled me from Hell, she's been trying to take me back to you and even then, she stopped to help me with this case. Just… you can trust her.' 

It feels weird for her, to openly admit that she trusts Anna, the angel that she thought there was something _off_ about, and yet here she is, trying to talk her brothers into trusting her as well. 

'Trust her? Jo, she went back in time to try and kill my mom!' Dean snaps, his hand tightening almost painfully around her wrist. The hand holding his gun wavers, however, so Jo takes that as a good sign. 

Even if she is rather taken aback by the statement that Dean just threw at her. 

'Have you ever been to prison in Heaven, Dean? Have you ever had someone poke around inside of your head, rewiring everything that makes you _you_ , and convince you that killing someone you love or hurting someone you care about is the right thing to do? You forgave Cas after he beat you to a pulp in that crypt, Dean,' Anna whispers, and her eyes are no longer narrowed, they're wide and open and _pleading_ , and damn, if Dean doesn't forgive her, Jo's going to break his nose. 'I was under their control. But I've proven my worth… I went to Hell and I saved a soul; I did what they asked of me.'

Dean studies her for a moment, and as Jo stares at the side of his face, she can see exactly what is going through his mind; he's weighing up whether or not he can actually trust her - whether or not he can actually believe those words. 

'Dean. If you don't trust her yet, trust me.' Jo whispers, and she manoeuvres her hand so that she can slip her fingers in between his.

'Answer me this, why did you pick Jo's soul to rescue?' Dean growls. 'If you tell me that it's not just because you knew it'd get you close to us again, we'll lower our guns.' 

'Of course that's not the reason! I didn't go to Hell with a soul in mind, Dean. All I was told was I had to rescue _a_ soul. When I got there… I just picked the brightest one.' Anna whispers the end, her voice soft and sincere, and Jo can't help the way her face heats up at the words. 

Since when was her soul _pure_. After everything she had ever… she shakes her head. She can't think about her time in the pit; she promised herself she wouldn't. 

Dean's eyes twitch, but after only the briefest of moments, he lowers his gun and locks the safety back on. Sam follows his example, and even Castiel puts his blade away… which reminds Jo, 'What do you mean you're the only angel?' 

'I lost my grace.' Cas' gravely voice declares and Jo feels Dean's hand twitch beneath hers. She lets go of him, taking a step forward towards Cas, raising her eyebrow at him and asking him to continue. 'I thought I was helping Heaven.' 

'Luckily Naomi appeared in time to stop Metatron from performing his spell.' Anna adds, and Cas' head lowers almost ashamed of himself. Jo wants to reach out and place her hand on his shoulder, to try and comfort him, but there's something else stirring around in her mind that stops her from doing that. 

'Wait… a transformer took your grace?' Jo enquires, earning a chuckle from Dean, who wraps his arm around her neck and pulls her into his side. He presses a kiss to her forehead and chuckles again. 

'I've missed you, kid.' 

'The scribe of God.' Anna declares. 'Run out of Heaven after our father left. Castiel, if there was a way I could help you get your grace back, I would, but-'

'You can't.' Cas finishes for her, a bitter smile appearing on his face, but it's not directed at Anna… it's mostly directed at himself. 'Don't worry. I have found humanity to be a rather pleasant experience so far.' 

His blue eyes dart to Dean, before they fall to the ground and turn back to Anna. She gives him a knowing smile, before her hazel eyes turn to Jo. 

'Am I still checking out or are we staying here another night?' She enquires and Jo turns her head to gaze at Dean. She raises her eyebrow at him in a silent question, and then can't help the smile that appears on her lips when he answers, and she realises that he still knows how to read her like a book. 

'We'll stay here for another night. Cas, Sam and me will check into another room. We had a long trip.' Dean explains, removing his arm from around Jo's shoulder, cracking his neck from side to side. 'But first, I need food. Where's the best place to eat around here?' 

'There's a small diner just down the road. Their burgers are the best thing ever.' Jo declares softly. 

She watches with amusement as Dean moves over to Castiel's side, punching his arm playfully as he declares, 'Cas'll love that, then. Yeah, let's go.' 

Jo nods her head before she moves to open the door, but Anna gets there first and opens it for her. She gives Jo a small smile, and Jo returns it as she leaves the hotel room and steps into the fresh air.

She hears the others follow her, and without looking back, she starts walking towards the diner. She passes the Impala as she does so, and she can't stop herself from reaching out and trailing her fingers over her shiny black body. 

'I'll let you drive her at some point.' Dean declares as he steps up beside her, walking in pace with her as she shoves her hands back into her pockets, the car no longer by her side. 

'I look forward to it. It's amazing all the little things I've missed.'

Dean doesn't say anything in reply, he just hums and they continue the walk to the diner. 

When they reach it, they find a booth big enough for the five of them, and slide in. A young blonde woman comes over with the menus, a wide smile on her face as she hands them out to everyone. 

'Can I get you anything to drink?' She questions, and when Jo turns her head back to look at her, she sees the name "Amy.” She lets out a gasp as the menu falls from her hands, falling onto the table with a soft flutter. Her breathing starts coming out hard and heavy, and she's reaching for the dagger in her pocket when Anna's hand is suddenly on top of hers, stopping her movement. 

'I'm not going to have anything, but can you bring Jo a diet Pepsi please?' Anna murmurs, sending Amy a sweet smile as she gently rubs her fingers over Jo's, helping soothe the tremors that shake through her. 

Jo can feel everyone's eyes on her, but she can't seem to tear her eyes off Amy's green ones, simply waiting for them to turn coal black; for a sadistic smirk to appear on her lips and for fire to engulf her. 

'Anything for you, gents?' The waitress prods and the three of them shake their heads, before ordering their beverages. Amy smiles and turns away from them, saying that she'll be back to take their order soon. 

As soon as she's gone, Jo lets out a sigh and turns her gaze back to the boys. She tries to plaster a smile upon her face, to ease their thoughts and worries, but the second she meets their gaze, she realises that's just impossible. 

Her smile falls off her face, and she looks back down to the table, her brown eyes seeing her hand buried under Anna's, who's still rubbing soothing circles with her thumb on the back of her hand. 

She lifts her eyes to Anna then, giving her a soft, grateful smile as Anna lifts her hand away from Jo's. 

'You were in Hell?' Dean prompts, and Jo wonders how long that question has been floating around inside his head; how long he’s been waiting for the right time to ask that question. 

She nods her head, unable to actually say those words; unable to even mutter a "yes" in reply to that question. 

'But… you hadn't sold your soul, Jo, and you're _good_.' 

She can't help the chuckle at that statement. He wouldn't be calling her good if he knew about her desires when in the pit; if he knew how hard it was for her to say "no" to Olivier and Amy time after time. 

'Getting torn to shreds by a hellhound will do that, apparently. Four years in the pit… that was _fun_.' She gives a humourless chuckle, but when she meets Dean's gaze, she know s he can see right through her comment. 

'Incase you're forgetting, Jo, I've _been_ there. I know what it's like. One _month_ is like ten years-' 

'I know what you're thinking, Dean, but I didn't do it! I didn't pick up a single weapon… you've got to believe me.' She trails off with a dejected whisper. 

Dean's hand reaches across the table then, gently covering her own and Jo tries to bite back the thought that his hand just wasn't as _warm_ as Anna's was before. 

'I know that, Jo. You're stronger than I ever was.' Dean says, but before Jo can even think about protesting to his statement, Amy is back with their drinks and Jo immediately snatches her hand free from under Dean's, her hand moving straight to the hilt of her blade. 

'One water, a diet Pepsi and two coffees.' She lists everything off as she sets them on the table, before she tucks the tray under her arm. She nods over to a small table. 'Milk and sugar are over there,' she pulls out her notepad and pulls down the pencil that's tucked behind her ear. 'What can I get you?' 

Dean turns his gaze to Jo for a moment, but when he notices that she's not going to speak first, or tear her predatory glare away from their waitress, he clears his throat and declares, 'I'll have a cheeseburger and your cherry pie for desert.' 

'I'll have the same.' Cas declares, handing his menu to Dean, who in turn hands it to the waitress. 

'Uh, a caesar salad would be nice, thanks.' 

'I'm good.' Anna murmurs, as she hands the menu back and turns her attention back to Jo. 'Jo? What do you want?' 

Her eyes don't leave the waitress' face, but she takes a deep breath in and decides that the best thing to do is to avoid the waitress calling the cops and throwing them out of the diner, she forces a smile on her face and declares, 'I'll have your beef burger with a side of fries. Cherry pie for desert too, please.' 

It's Anna that hands Jo's menu back to the waitress, for she doesn't feel safe enough removing her hand from around the handle of her blade until the waitress is turning and walking away once more. 

'What is up with you, Jo?' Sam questions and Jo immediately lets go of her blade. 

'I…' she sighs, trailing off as her eyes flicker back over to the waitress. She looks nothing like the Amy she remembers; Amy had black eyes, dark hair and was all angles, from her face to her body. This Amy has soft green eyes, blonde hair and has the soft curves of a woman-expecting. '"Amy"… it was the name of the demon that tortured me in Hell. I had… she made… it was hard.' 

Dean's green eyes study her, and it isn't long before she realises that he _knows_ exactly what she's talking about. She can't discreetly turn the conversation away from the topic, and ignore their questioning stares, because he _knows_ exactly what she's been through.

She doesn't see any loathing or disgust hidden beneath his green orbs though, there's a soft understanding there instead, but it's not enough to make her open up; it's not enough to make her truly think about her time in Hell. 

It is enough, however, for her to plaster a smile on her face, place her hands on top of the table to stop her reaching for her blade once again. 

'So tell me boys, what have you been up to? I want to know everything I missed in my time in Hell.' 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

'Wait, wait, wait!' Jo interrupts Sam's talking, finally bursting from her curiosity. 'You said yes to Lucifer, jumped in the pit where Cas pulled you out without a soul. Cas then started working with Crowley to open the door to Purgatory, but got taken over by Leviathan and that's how they ended up roaming the world. _Then_ , after more regular Winchester-style shit, Dean managed to kill the Leviathan leader, only to land himself in Purgatory with Cas? And instead of looking for him, you settled down and played happy families?' 

'Hah! Told you.' Dean agrees with her words almost immediately, and Jo grins at him. Four years away from him and they're still as similar as the day she left. 

'I'm guessing this is an argument you've had many times before?' Jo questions after sending Sam a teasing smile. She looks between Sam and Dean, as they turn their gazes to each other and silently have the argument again.

'Anyway, are we going to go?' Jo murmurs, pushing away the now empty plate of pie, listening to the sound of the spoon clattering against it. 

The rest of them mutter in agreement, pulling out the money and placing it on the table a moment later. They slide out of their booth, the majority of them sending a smile towards Amy, but Jo can't bring herself to do it, no matter how rude it makes her look. 

Dean, Sam, and Anna seem to fall into step together, whilst Jo and Castiel hang back, and when the trio are locked in a deep conversation, trying to work out their trust for the sake of their situation, Jo puts her hand on Cas' arm and tugs him to a halt. 

'Cas, be straight with me,' Jo starts off. 'Has everything been all right up here?' 

Cas' bright blue eyes meet Jo's a second later, and he lets out a weary sigh. 

'Once or twice there's been a few touch-and-go moments, but they're strong, Jo. You have nothing to worry or stress over.' Cas declares and Jo can't help the smirk, realising that Cas knows exactly what she was asking about, without even having to ask it. 

'And, tell me, do you trust Anna?' She asks after giving a brief smile at his answer. He still believes in them both. That's good. 

'Heaven's prison is… difficult, Jo. I believe her when she says it wasn't her own decision to try and kill Mary Winchester. But once again, it's impossible to escape from there; you only get out when they want to let you out. I do trust her, Jo, but I don't trust the other angels… and if they've got their hooks in Anna, it may make it hard for her to break free from them. I know that, trust me.' 

Jo is about to reply to him, to ask him if there's a way to help Anna get the angels’ hooks out of her, but Dean's voice interrupts her; distracts her from replying and she turns her head around wildly to look at him. 

'Jo! Cas! You two coming or are you standing there trying to make out?' He calls, a teasing grin on his lips, but even beneath that there's something… there's almost a worry, and Jo decides it's the perfect opportunity for something she's been dying to get off her chest.

''Course not, Dean,' she calls back, starting to walk back to him. As soon as she's standing in front of him, she continues, 'Wouldn't want to steal your boyfriend after all.' 

She gives his cheek a soft slap, before she brushes pass him and starts walking back to the motel. She grins when she hears Dean choke in surprise, spluttering as he tries to find a way to reply to her statement, and she laughs along with Cas and Sam as they finally break down into giggles. 

'How the hell did you know?' Dean accuses, jogging to catch up with her and Jo takes it as a good sign that he's asking that question, instead of vehemently denying it. 

'Please. I may have been in Hell for four years, but I still know you. Your fingers have been twitching towards his all day, your eyes hardly leave his face and you look so damn _dreamy_ and happy around him. It would take an idiot not to see it… seriously, Dean, take his hand or something before you die.' Jo advises, sending a teasing wink towards her brother, before she shoves into his shoulder using her own. 

He sends her a mock glare, but wordlessly reaches for Castiel's hand, slipping his fingers through the gaps of Castiel's. Jo bites her lower lip at the sight, but says nothing, turning her gaze away from their entwined hands, and before she realises it, her gaze has landed on Anna, who's now walking someway in front of her. 

As soon as she realises what she's doing, her eyes immediately dart away from the angel, and instead turn to see how close they are to the hotel, getting a shock when she notices they're pretty much already there. 

'Okay, we're going to get the rooms.' Dean declares, purposefully ignoring Jo waggling her eyebrows at the idea of room _s_.'So, we'll see you tomorrow, Jo?' 

Jo gives him a smile, before she envelopes him in her arms, squeezing him as hard as she can, still amazed she can honestly hold him again. 

'See you tomorrow, guys.' She says, after giving a hug to both Sam and Cas. She then turns with Anna and they make their way back to the motel room. 

'I'm guessing you'll want me to leave to give you a better sleep?' Anna questions just before they step into the room, and Jo surprises herself by feeling _disappointed_ by the very idea of that.

'No… no there's no need to. You can sit up and watch TV or read or something. But, no, you don't need to go, Anna, I mean it.' 

There's a long moment, when their eyes meet and they find they can't tear them away from the other's. 

But then Jo seems to remember herself, and clears her throat before turning away from Anna, heading back over to the bed. She pulls the covers back, siding into the bed, relishing in the feel of the cool sheets, no matter how scratchy they are. 

'Goodnight, Joanna.' 

Jo feels a smile tug at her lips, as she reaches over and turns the light off. 

As soon as the room is enveloped in darkness, she whispers, 'Yeah, night, Anna.' 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

_'Pick up the knife,' his voice is warm and soft in her ear, as he takes ahold of her hand and gently steers it towards the knife that sits on the table in front of them. He guides her hand until it's circling around the hilt of the dagger, making sure her grip is firm as he steps up behind her, pressing against her back in a long line._

_He takes her free hand in his also, guiding it up until it's in front of her, reaching towards the knife at a slow pace that has her breath quickening. When the tip of her finger first touches the point of the blade, her breath shudders, but she doesn't pull away._

_He continues to press her finger against the blade, pressing and pressing until the distinct feel of her skin breaking cuts through her like a shock. She pulls her finger away when he releases it, and she tilts her head to the side as she watches the blood form. It starts in a small drop, before there's suddenly too much to keep the form and it flows down the side of her index finger, in a long stream of crimson._

_'It's sharp, my love,' Olivier's voice whispers in her ear, and she nods, even though there was no question. 'Just think what that could do to someone's stomach; or someone's throat. Can you see it?'_

_She can. She can imagine plunging the dagger deep into someone's gut and twisting, watching as their eyes widen in shock and pain. She can imagine ripping the dagger from their body with a sharp tug, in order to do even more damage. She can imagine how_ **_red_ ** _their blood would be on the metal of the dagger. She can imagine watching them slump to the ground, gurgling and moaning at the shock of their death._

_She can imagine it all._

_And she_ **_craves_ ** _it._

_She nods her head, letting him know just that's she envisioned it; that she wants it more than anything. She can feel a grin against her temple, where his lips are placed and she shudders._

_'That's it, my dear. You're getting there. Soon, you'll be better than me.' He coos into her ear, before pulling back, turning to look into those pitch black eyes._

_'No-one can be better than you, Olivier,' she whispers in return, and she feels pride when he presses a kiss to her forehead, a smile tugging at his lips._

_'Oh, you flatter me so, my dove.' He murmurs against her skin. 'I've got a present for you, something special to help break you in,' he declares before he pulls back and waves his hand. Suddenly, another soul is in the room with them, and as she turns her head, she notices the familiar face of her mother. Well, her mother when she was alive._

_'Jo,' she murmurs, her voice weak from the previous torture session with someone else, and Jo guesses that the torture had_ **_just_ ** _ended, which makes her smile. She's going to_ _be_ _tender and sensitive. Good._

_'Now remember that vision you had just moments ago? Carving someone's stomach open with that dagger in your hand? Make it_ **_real_ ** _,' he whispers into her ear and before Ellen can say anything, Jo is turning and walking towards her, the blade resting against her lips as she saunters closer and closer to her._

_This isn't her daughter, she realises as Jo moves the dagger way from her own lips, and trails it down the side of Ellen's face._

_'Jo, Jo baby.' She tries, even though she know_ _s_ _the chances of it working are slim, it's still worth a shot. It's still her_ **_daughter_ ** _in someway… just not the beautiful, pure soul that she remembered; the beautiful pure soul that she held in her arms as she died, whispering how much she loved her._

_'Shut it, skank,' Jo hisses as she twists the blade so it cuts her mother's face. A trickle of blood trails down her mother's cheek, and Jo feels a smile tug at he lips at the sight. Her blood is_ **_crimson,_ ** _just like she imagined it would be; vibrant and gorgeous and_ **_delicious._ ** _Jo leans forward until she lips are pressed against her mother's cheek._

_Ellen flinches, a gasp breaking free from her lips when she feels Jo's tongue lap at the cut, cleaning the blood from her cheek, and she feels like she's going to be sick whens she witnesses her daughter lick her lips at the metallic taste of blood that's on her tongue._

_'Joanna…' she whispers in defeat, realising that her daughter is long,_ **_long_ ** _gone._

_'Joanna is gone,' she murmurs, confirming Ellen's thoughts. 'It's Aoife, now.'_

_With a smirk on her lips, she closes her eyes, and when she reopens them, the only thing that can be seen is black._

Jo wakes up with a loud scream, a scream that surely should crack and shatter glass. Her body is covered in a cold sweat, as she searches blindly for her dagger. 

Suddenly, the light is on and she screams again, her hands flailing around the bed, desperately trying to find a weapon. 

When she sees that it's just Anna standing in the room, she lets out a small sigh to relief, before she throws herself off the bed. She runs through to the bathroom, grabbing ahold of the sink with a grip so tight her knuckles match the whiteness of the sink. 

She studies herself in the mirror nailed to the wall, her gaze darting back and forth between her right and left eye, desperately waiting for them to turn black like in her dreams. 

But instead, they remain brown, the only blackness coming from her pupils and even then those were clenched into a small circle, due to the brightness of light in the bathroom. 

She stares at her reflection for what seems like an eternity, before she jumps, yet another screech breaking free from her lips as a hand is suddenly placed upon her shoulder. 

'Calm down, Jo, it's just me. It's me, Anna.' She whispers and Jo tries to take solace in that, tries to think everything is all right now that Anna is there, but that dream is still _seared_ into her mind. The sight of her mother, chained up against the wall, as _she_ carves her into pieces and tortures her; her own mother. The sight of seeing her eyes pitch black, demonic, still makes Jo want to claw her eyes out to make sure it never happens.

'Anna. That dream. I just…' she stops herself, moving her hands so she can grab ahold of Anna's arms; clenching onto them as tight as she can, using her to remain upright. 

'Everything is fine, Jo.'

'But you didn't _see_ it. I was… who… _what_ I-' 

'Your dream was _normal_ , Jo. I promise. It's all fine and it's nothing to feel ashamed of.' Anna murmurs, her hand moving from her shoulder to cup Jo's face, gently tracing her thumbs over Jo's cheekbone.

'But- but that _dream_ , Anna-'

'You're just back from Hell, Jo. It is _normal_ to experience such things.' 

At the mention of her dream being normal, something seems to snap within Jo, and she breaks free from Anna's grasp, firmly shoving her away from her person in order to put more distance between her and the angel.

'Will you stop fucking saying that what I thought was _normal_? I don't fucking care if it was! I _wanted_ to torture souls, Anna! I actually felt pretty damn disappointed whenever I forced the word "no" out of my mouth. So, no I don't need you to tell me that it was perfectly normal to have those cravings, Anna, I need you tell me that I should be thrown back into pit for even _enjoying_ that dream!' Jo shouts, and by the time she's finished, she's breathless and her eyes are wide and stinging with tears, but she can't look away. She keeps staring at the calm expression on the angel's face, and it does nothing to soothe her. No. It _enrages_ her. 

Why is she always so fucking calm?

'Will you _react_?' She snaps and before she knows what she's doing, Jo is throwing a punch at the angel, aiming directly for the soft, pale cheek of hers.

Only, when her hand connects with the flesh, there's no give and she's suddenly glad she didn't put a lot of force into the damn thing, otherwise she'd have broken all the bones in her hand. 

But the pain that shoots through her is a welcoming feeling. It reminds her of the torture. When she used to scream as Olivier carved into her body, and that was the only time she didn't wish she could say yes, because it was the only time she could convince herself that she didn't want to inflict that pain onto another soul. 

So, Jo raises her other hand this time and thrusts it against Anna's cheek once more, finding her teeth gritting together when the angel moves her cheek with the movement and lessens the sting. It ends up being less painful than the last time and Jo growls. 

She wants more; she _needs_ more. That whole fucking dream was her torturing someone, when it was supposed to be her. She was the one that deserved to be tied up and torn to shreds; not her mother. Her mother deserves a place in Heaven. Not in Hell being tortured by her daughter. 

And whilst Jo knows that nothing in that dream actually happened, she can't help herself, she needs to take it out someway. Needs to find a way to bury the dream to the bottom of her mind; to make the guilt stop burning and searing into her bones. 

'Jo, you need to-' Anna is cut off when Jo lets out another growl and throws another punch. She rolls with the punch this time, easing the pain that shoots through Jo's hand. 

Jo had plans to take a deep breath in and calm herself after that, but then Anna turns her head to ease the pain; the welcoming shooting, stabbing feeling she had been expecting doesn't come and she's disappointed. 

'God fucking dammit, you really are a useless, worthless, untrustworthy-' Jo starts insulting Anna with as many words as she can think of, desperately trying to get Anna to just _react_ and seem human for once, but she's cut off, because Anna is suddenly fighting back. Her hand comes up to grab ahold of Jo's hair and whilst she manages to bring her knee up to Jo's face, and crash it against her nose, there isn't as much strength as an angel normally has - which certainly surprises Jo, but not enough to make her want to know more. 

Right now. She just wants to fight; to feel blood trickle down her face and feel bruises and cuts form on her body. Just like her time in Hell.

There's no pull as she yanks her head free from Anna's grasp. If she had her angel mojo on or was actually using it, she's sure her hair and her _skull_ would've been pulled with the move, but instead there's nothing. 

And whilst she wants _more_ pain, and doesn't want Anna to be holding back, there's something deep down inside her that's thankful that the angel either doesn't want to hurt her, or is too afraid or nervous to. 

Jo can feel blood trickle down her lips and she reaches up with her hand to wipe it away, smearing it across her lips and her cheek as she does so. 

'So what word broke you? Useless, worthless or the fact you're untrustworthy?' Jo taunts, and something definitely shifts in Anna's gaze this time. 

She lets out a scream of pain when Anna's hand suddenly encircles her neck, but doesn't squeeze. Instead, she uses the grip to throw Jo across the room, sending her crashing into the wall. She falls to the floor with an empty groan, but manages to find her way to her feet with a groan, wiping yet more blood away from her face. 

'That the best you can do, angel?' 

It takes only a second before Anna is on her again, and she needs to concern herself with stopping Anna from getting another hand to her throat, to either break her neck or choke her to death this time, having already used it as leverage to throw her across the room. 

She's not sure how long it all last for, but she's panting and covered in sweat and blood by the time she hears the sound of someone banging against the door.

'Pulling me from Hell to throw me back again? Seems like a wasted journey.' Jo laughs when she finally manages to break away from Anna for a moment. 

'You'll be back where you belong, what can I say?' Anna hisses in return, before she lunges for Jo once more. 

Jo is vaguely aware of seeing Dean, Sam and Cas burst into the room a moment later; can vaguely hear Dean shout about getting Anna off of his sister, and that Cas should do something, before seemingly remembering that Cas actually doesn't have that sort of strength anymore. 

'Fuck! What do we do?' She hears Sam's voice question, but any reply or decision is cut off when Anna's hand suddenly catches her on the throat, hitting her with such a force that she ends up lying on the ground, sprawled out on her back with no idea what just happened. 

But she doesn't have much time to get her bearings, for Anna is suddenly crowding in on her, and when the hell did she pull out her angel blade? 

It's pressing against Jo's throat and she just feels the cool metal press against her throat when everything suddenly disappears; the coldness of the blade at her throat, the weight of Anna pinning her to the ground, her breath fanning over her face and cooling on her blood-stained skin. 

But then Dean's hand are on her as he pulls her into a sitting position. Things start to blur and merge together as she moves, but the last thing she can remember - before everything is incased in black - is Dean calling her name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


	6. 'Til The Bitter Ending

When Jo comes to, everything hurts. Her hand is throbbing like mad, her head feels like it's going to burst, and there's some pain somewhere else that she can't locate through the haze of unconsciousness. 

Her eyelids flutter, a weak groan breaking free from her lips as she begins to stir, more pain apparently catching up with her. When she finally forces her eyes open, Dean come into her vision, leaning over her with a worried and concerned expression on his face. 

'Goddammit, Jo. What were you thinking?' He questions as he pulls her from her position lying on the bed and envelopes her in his arms. His hold is gentle and only a small amount of pain erupts from the contact, but it's definitely not enough for Jo to want to pull away. 

'It was all just a stupid dream.' She murmurs into his shoulder. 'She was trying to comfort me, and I didn't… I didn't _want_ to be coddled. I wanted blood; my blood. She didn't fight back for a long time, but then something just… snapped.' 

She pulls away from him then, giving him a small, hesitant smile. He doesn't return it however, and so she sighs, letting it fall off her face because it was too much effort anyways. There's a pain in her lip, and when Jo reaches up to caress it with her fingertips, she comes in contact with a long cut on her plump lower lip. 

'I told you that the other angels may have their hook in her, Jo.' Cas speaks up and Jo frowns at him, silently asking him what he meant. 'Sometimes you can fight it, but other times you can't.' 

Cas trails off, his gaze falling away from Jo's face and towards the floor. Jo is about to move and comfort him, when Dean moves away from her, standing from the bed and walking over to Cas. His fingers hook under Cas' chin and pull his head upwards, forcing Cas' blue eyes to meet Dean's green ones, before Dean envelopes him in an embrace. 

Jo feels a small smile tug at her lips before she tears her eyes away from the moment, finding it far too personal for her gaze. She meets Sam's eyes a second later and she gives him a grin when she realises that he thinks the exact same thing. 

However, something passes over his face and he looks like he's suddenly found the answer to the universe, and he doesn't care whether or not his brother is having a special moment.

'Doesn't this sound a little… familiar to you?' He speaks out, his gaze turning to Dean and Cas, who break apart when their brother speaks. 

'What d'you mean?' 

'Well, Cas, the angels had a grip on you when they made you beat Dean in that crypt.' Sam states and Jo doesn't miss the way Cas flinches at the mention, nor the way that Dean reaches out and grabs his hand in almost reassurance. 'Jo said Anna was _resisting_ until something snapped. What if the thing that made her snap were the angels getting inside her head?' 

Cas frowns, his gaze flickering between Jo and Sam before he speaks, 'That would make sense. Anna was the first angel to ever develop free will. There are others like us in Heaven still, and if they manage to control the one angel that brought free will to everyone else… it would certainly squash any further ideas… it's just…'

He trails off, his narrowed eyes turning back to Jo and she can't help but draw up; sit taller and straighten her back because she knows, just _knows_ _,_ that Cas is studying her, analysing her. Angel or not, she still feels like he can see deep into her soul and judge her from that. 

'"It's just" what, Cas?' Dean enquires, not exactly liking the way he's studying his sister, as if he can't decide whether she's a threat that needs to be taken out or not. 

'Angels don't think humans are worth anything. You know that; mud-monkeys are what the majority of my kind call you. Only when they are considered a threat are they given attention; we are ordered to kill. I was told to kill Dean because they knew my feelings for him; knew I'd sooner disobey than hurt him, so that made him a threat - something that needed to be dealt with. If they ordered Anna to hurt or even _kill_ you, Jo, then you're Anna's weakness.' 

Jo's eyes widen at that last statement and she can't help the laugh of disbelief that breaks free from her lips. 

'What? You're saying she's Superman and I'm her kryptonite?' 

Cas shakes his head. 'I'm new to all these references, but I believe that the real comparison would be that…  if she's Superman, you're her Lois Lane.' 

' _What_?' Jo demands, momentarily forgetting just how much pain she is in as she shoots from the bed and crowds towards Castiel. 

The second she's on her feet however, pain shoots through her whole body, from her head right down to her feet that she stupidly used to kick the angel. 

'You're crazy,' she gasps as she doubles over in pain. 'Anna and me, we're just… I don't know, but I'm not her Lois Lane. We've only known each other for a week!' 

Cas gives a chuckle at her statement, moving forward to place his hands on Jo's shoulders. He gently steers her back towards the bed and sits her down on the edge. 

'Jo, I knew I loved Dean the second my grace merged with his soul.' He forges on, even though Dean starts to sputter in protest to that statement. 'There were one or two broken parts, sure, but his soul was _pure_ and _good_ that I just knew. The Righteous Man… it was just duty as I fought my way through Hell to reach him. It was just duty right up until the second I gripped him tight and raised him from perdition. Your soul is the purest, truest part of you, and when an angel rescues one from Hell, they use their grace to put it back together. That creates a bond; a special, profound bond.' 

He turns his head briefly over his shoulder, looking at Dean in order to give him a soft smile before he turns back to Jo. 

'For both of the people involved, it's a connection that runs deep; her grace is etched into your soul, and your soul is connected with her grace.' 

Jo stares at him speechlessly, unable to decide just what she wants to say to him. But that's mainly because she doesn't even know _how_ she feels about that. She's not sure how she feels about being anyone's Lois Lane, let alone an angel of the Lord's Lois Lane… she's not meant to be the damsel in distress.

'I just…' she shakes her head, trailing off because how is she supposed to finish that sentence? She doesn't even know how she wants to finish that sentence! She turns away from them, looking over to the window and noticing that it's still dark out. She runs a hand through her hair, wincing at the pain that shoots through her skull as she does so. 

'I'm tired.' She mutters after a moment, turning back to her family with a small smile on her face. 'I'll talk to you tomorrow. Now, get out.' 

'You really are a lovely girl, aren't you?' Dean murmurs before he pulls her into an embrace, pressing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. 

'C'mon guys, lets go.' Dean orders as he finally lets go of Jo. He turns and takes ahold of Cas' hand before they all walk out of the hotel room, and just before he shuts the door behind him, he gives Jo a small smile before he closes the door and disappears from sight. 

As soon as the door is shut, Jo collapses onto the bed, wincing as the mattress squeaks beneath her. 

'I'm not Lois Lane.' She murmurs into the darkness, before she shakes her head and moves herself into a much more comfortable position. She pulls back the covers and slides under them, groaning as a sharp pain shoots through her with every single movement, but as soon as she's comfortable, she falls still and doesn't move to save herself from anymore pain. 

It takes her a long time to put her talk with Cas from her mind, but once she does, it doesn't take her long to fall asleep. 

It doesn't seem to last long, however, when a sharp, shrill tone is singing in her ear and she bolts upright with a loud curse. 

One hand scrambles towards the source of the noise whilst the other is thrown across her eyes, desperately scrubbing the sleep and tiredness out of them in order to make her feel more awake. 

When she finally finds her stolen cellphone, she removes her hand from over her eyes in order to see the number. It isn't until she sees a number that she doesn't recognise, that she realises that no-one that she knows will have the number of her cell because it's not actually hers. Hell, even she doesn't know what the actual number is!

Suddenly filled with suspicion, Jo finds herself wide awake as she trails her thumb over the worn out answer button, before she takes a deep breath and presses it, raising the phone to her ear. 

'Hello?' 

There's no other sound on the other end of the phone, and Jo frowns because since when is that normal? There's no static or anything, no breathing and the suspicion that Jo had felt the second she saw someone was phoning her is suddenly back. 

'Hello?' She repeats. 

There's a soft sigh at the other end this time, and okay, good, it's human… to some extent. 

' _Hello, Joanna.'_ Jo's eyes widen at the voice, finding herself unable to speak or _think_ all of a sudden. ' _Did you forget about me?'_

The voice is smooth like honey, slowly flowing out of the cell and it makes shivers run down Jo's spine; makes her shudder as she reaches instinctively for her knife that she stashed under the pillow. 

'How did you survive?' Jo questions because she can remember what it was like being pulled from Hell; she can remember how the bright light of Anna's grace vaporised Olivier where he stood. She can remember how wide the space that Anna's grace consumed was; she can remember what Castiel said about the connection… surely she wouldn't leave Hell without killing the demon that tortured her. 

' _How did you wrangle an angel's sympathy? Miracles happen, my dear, and just like that, I've pulled myself from the Pit in order to drag that pretty head of yours back to where it belongs._ ' Amy sneers, and Jo can just imagine her now, can imagine the way her lips would curl around the words; how her eyes would narrow as the venom in her words grew. She can still see her. She is still haunted by the visions and it's enough to make her grip on the knife tighten. ' _That gorgeous redhead of yours isn't going to save you this time, my love, and you're going to realise how_ ** _gentle_** _Olivier was on you down there. I'm a million times worse, and I'm going to make you feel it.'_

Despite the fear she feels, despite the fact that her entire body is now running cold, Jo can't seem to stop the chuckle that emerges from her lips, can't seem to stop herself from making a snappy comment to rile the demon up. 

She spent so long with her, she knows what makes her mad; knows how to get under her skin, and there's a lot of fun that comes from that. 

'I don't know Amy, you never really liked getting your hands dirty… and if I had to go back, I wouldn't say no.' 

' _I wouldn't let them take you from me, pet._ ' 

'You wouldn't have a choice,' Jo murmurs into the phone, lifting the dagger up from its place on the bed until it's right in front of her eyes. She imagines it shining bright with Amy's blood; imagines having her tied up against the dark walls and tearing into her - instead of her mother, it'd be Amy and she'd have every right to enjoy it. 'I know how Hell works. You want to torture, they will let you torture. The words of a low-level demon like you wouldn't change their mind. They want _numbers,_ pet.' 

She throws the pet name in with a soft growl, because she knows just how much it'll annoy Amy. She remembers the deal she made with her during her first seconds in Hell. That if Amy called her Jo instead of pet names, she'd stop calling her insults. That didn't last long on either side… but Jo can't necessarily remember who broke their deal first; whether it was her or whether it was Amy. 

Jo hears Amy growl from the other side of the phone and she clenches her jaw in order to stop the frightful gasp that wants to escape her lips. She doesn't know what's so different about Amy; she's fought demons before, she's _killed_ demons before, she's sent them back to Hell, but there's something about the one that ordered her to be cut into pieces before putting her back together again that still makes her want to cry out for her mother. 

' _We'll see, Joanna.'_ Amy sneers before there's a click and the line goes dead. Jo lets the phone drop onto the mattress, not even trying to place it back down gently. It slips from her fingers, clatters against her legs before it bounces to the floor with a dull thud. 

She's still staring at her blade, still imagining it dripping with Amy's blood when there's a loud bang coming from the door. She slowly stands from the bed, knife held tightly in one hand as she reaches out for the door knob with the other. 

Playing games was always Amy's style, so phoning her to make it seem like she was miles away before turning up on her doorstep is exactly something she'd do, so Jo is not about to take any chances. 

Her hand winds around the brass handle, trying to ignore how _cold_ the metal is against her fingertips and she slowly turns it, giving herself plenty of time to see who it is and whether or not she needs to prepare herself for an attack. 

Jo's brown gaze lands on the figures of Dean, Sam and Cas, and she lets out a sigh of relief as she lets the door swing further open, letting them enter the room that's still in disarray from her fight last night. 

They look at her, a mixture of confusion and concern etched upon her face and she watches as Dean's eyes dart between her and the knife that's still tight in her grasp. 

'Expecting someone?' 

'Sort of.' Jo replies as she releases her hold on the weapon and sets it onto the bed. She looks around the room and realises that she's going to have a really hard time explaining this to the owner of the motel. Luckily, she doesn't have anything to pack so if they play their cards right, she could get away without having to say a single thing. 

'Care to elaborate?' Dean enquires as he steps further into the room, surveying it with a frown on his face, his hand itching towards the knife that's secured to his legs. The second Jo's eyes lay on the handle, she realises what knife it is… it's the one that can kill demons. 

'I got a phone call.'

'And…?' 

'It was from Amy.' Jo explains. 'The demon who tortured me in Hell… well, one of them anyway.' 

'There was more than one?' 

'Yeah… two. Amy was the mastermind behind all the different ways, though, Olivier was just her instrument. He was the one that carried her sadistic plans out; he was the one that carved me up, the one that tore me to pieces and left me broken… but Amy, she liked putting me back together again. No matter what, she wouldn't let anyone else rebuild me.' Jo takes a deep breath in, trying to put those thoughts to the back of her mind,because she doesn't need to be thinking about this _now_. 'I got a call from her five minutes ago, and she just told me that she's going to drag me back to Hell; where I belong.' 

'Great. So, we're watching out for an angel and now we're watching out for a demon? That's just terrific.' 

'Angel? _Anna_? Why are we watching out for her? I thought you said I was her weak spot?' 

'Yeah, which means she could be brainwashed to kill you again. I'm not risking that again, Jo.' Dean declares and something seems to snap within Jo, because what is it with Dean? Why does he think he can do this to her? Order her around and make the decisions on what's right for her? She loved him, but sometimes he was nothing but a pain in the ass.

'No, I want to find Anna. I want to make sure she's all right.' Jo declares and the questions about last night come hurtling back to her. She was so confused when Cas told her about the bond that's created between the rescued soul and the angel, but now as she hears those words leave her lips; as Dean threatens to keep Anna away from her, she realises just how true Castiel's words were. 

The connection between them was there, and it was deep. 

'Jo-' 

'No, listen, Dean! If you thought for a single second someone was poking around inside Cas' head and could be _hurting_ him, are you trying to tell me you'd just shut him out? She wasn't the one that initiated that fight last night, that was me. I don't want to shut her out because like it or not, she's the one that saved me from Hell. I don't care what bad blood there is between you all, you're my family, and now she is too. Get used to it.' 

Dean lets out a loud exhale and Jo knows him well enough to know what that means. He's not going to protest; sure, he's unhappy about it, but he's not going to say anything else on the matter. 

'But first of all,' she starts, changing the conversation to something lighter because she's had enough drama as of lately. 'It's nearly time for the maids to come, so if we wanna get away without being charged more, we better haul ass.' 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

'So, where are you taking me again?' Jo questions from the backseat of the Impala, where she sits beside Castiel, finding it unsurprising that Sam still rides shotgun in the car. But the way Cas sits beside her, his eyes focused firmly on the side of Dean's head, watching over him like he promised to do all those years ago, she can tell that Cas doesn't really mind.

'The bunker of the Men of Letters.' Sam declares, before he lets out a sigh of impatience at the blank look on Jo's face. 'They're… they're all wiped out now, but before, these guys used to collect information; do all the research for hunters. They were awesome.' 

Jo doesn't know how to reply to that, but as soon as she hears Sam gush about them, she's filled with the sudden desire of having to burst his precious little bubble. 

'Wait, so you're telling me, there was a secret club with a special, hidden bunker, and they did all the same work that Bobby Singer - one solitary man - managed to do? Find the cases, give advice on how to gank them, and everything else needed to hunt down supernatural beings… and you're calling them awesome? They sound like a bunch of big-headed, scared-to-get-their-hands-dirty douches to me.'  

Dean barks with laughter at Jo's comment, and it grows in loudness as Sam huffs and turns his head to look out of the window, crossing his arms over his chest in response to where the conversation has went. 

'We won't be long though, Jo. It's still in Kansas.' Dean informs and Jo finds herself narrowing her eyes in confusion at that because, well, Anna had said they were nowhere near Kansas. Yet, their new home was in Kansas. Why would she say she had to take her away from Kansas in order to get back to her family, if they were actually still _in_ Kansas. 

'What's wrong, Jo?' Dean's voice cuts through her thoughts, and in order to refocus, she closes her eyes and tries to clear her mind. But the second her eyes are shut the image of Amy crowding close to her, as she murmurs into her ear of how much she'd enjoy torturing souls seeps into her mind, making Jo's eyes fly open as soon as that meets her sights.

'I'm fine.' She says, answering Dean's question as well the concerned expression etched upon his face. When it doesn't disappear as soon as the word leave her mouth, she finds herself repeating it, trying to force a smile onto her lips as she does so. 

She meets Dean's gaze in the rearview mirror then, and she just knows what's going through his mind. She knows how often he's used that before; how often he's told people he's "fine" when he's really as far from fine as possible. She knows that he's not going to believe her for a single second, but she also knows that he's not going to pressure her into talking. Not now. Not with Sam and Cas still sitting in the car, curious as to what's going on between their gazes. 

Instead of asking any questions, Sam just keeps his gaze out the window and Cas keeps his gaze on Dean, looking for any sign of discomfort on his friend. When Dean reaches out and turns the music up, he and Jo just sing along until they reach the bunker. 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

She rattles the cuffs that are tightened around her wrists, binding her to the chair that she's been forced into. Her eyes dart around the room, trying to find something that will help her break free or will help her identify where she is. 

She doesn't need to identify where she is, however, for she already knows. She can feel the thrum of energy around her, and she knows what that means. That kind of energy only comes to her when she's "home;” when she's in Heaven.

'I didn't want to hurt her!' She shouts out to the empty room, knowing very well that they can hear her. She used to be one of those high-ranking angels. She knows that they can be in more than one place at the same time; knows that if she's been brought here, they're not going to leave her completely alone - there's going to be some eyes and ears on her. 'Why did you make me hurt her?' 

'Didn't you see what she was making you do? You were bowing to a human again, Anael. It's that behaviour that made you fall in the first place.' A voice declares and before Anna knows where the voice is coming from, the room is suddenly alight and the owner of the voice is standing in front of her. 

'Jonah?' Anna murmurs as she takes in the angel standing in front of her. 'We're supposed to _protect_ them, not order the lower angels to kill them for you because you're _scared_.' 

'Don't you see, you little idiot? We don't need to protect them anymore, and we don't need people like _you_ anymore. We've already got rid of one cockroach, and we had every intentions of getting rid of you. But you just had to make it out of Hell didn't you? You just had to bring back another member of those damn Winchesters' family; of that damn Team Free Will.' 

Anna fights against her bonds once more, at the mere mention of her bringing back Jo being a mistake. She growls, her lip curling over her teeth as she tries to lunge at Jonah, but is held back by the cuffs. 

'Every intentions of getting rid of me? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I was sent to Hell to prove my worth; to prove my obedience… to get out of that torture you call _retraining_!' Anna falls silent after a moment, when she sees something shift within Jonah's expression. 'I wasn't meant to survive. Those demons were supposed to overpower me and kill me. You got rid of Castiel after having his grace stolen from him, and you realised that getting rid of me meant there'd be no more angels with free will roaming Heaven.'

'The idiot isn't that much of an idiot then.' Jonah sneers. 'You're starting to understand. You weren't supposed to survive it, and Heaven would've returned to the status it was at before. But yet here you are, wandering along with Joanna Harvelle and those Winchesters again.' 

Jonah leans in closer to her, but Anna doesn't flinch, she only continues to stay still, her eyes staring at him, narrowed in pure anger. 

'We'll clean up your mess, though. We've been doing it for years. Your and Castiel's mess; we'll finally destroy those damn Winchesters and we'll throw your precious little human back into the pit.' 

Something seems to snap within Anna and with a loud scream, she pulls herself free from her chains and before she's aware of what's happening, she's lunging herself at Jonah with a feral growl on her lips. She pulls her blade free and carves it against Jonah's neck, but it doesn't stay there long. 

Jonah kicks her away and throws her against the wall, but Anna doesn't stay down. She pulls herself up and looks around herself, trying to get her bearings once more. She witnesses Jonah coming towards her and Anna does the first thing that comes to her mind. She hurls her blade towards Jonah, distracting him enough so that she can pull another small dagger from her pocket and slice the first piece of her skin that she can reach. 

She draws the sigil with the blood and when Jonah turns to her with both blades in his hands, she slams her palm against the sigil, watching as he disappears into thin air, leaving nothing but Anna and his blade clattering to the ground. 

Anna knows that she's not got much time before Jonah fights his way back to this part of Heaven, so she dives down to the ground and grabs ahold of her own blade, deciding to leave Jonah's lying on the floor because she can't carry that with her. 

As soon as she picks up her weapon, Anna lets her wings pour from her shoulders and transports herself back down to earth and out of Heaven with a mere flutter of her shiny, elegant brown wings. 

When she lands on solid ground once more, Anna readjusts the blade so that it's facing her and she starts to carve the sigil into her body; the one that will hide her from the angels long enough till she gets things sorted out.

The blade stings her skin as she slices her skin. The pain draws a hiss from Anna's lips, but she doesn't stop. She keeps carving the sigil into her skin, in the hopes that it will keep her under the radar long enough till she gets to Jo. 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Jo knows she's dreaming, only because she's currently sitting in the Roadhouse's back room, the record player blaring out some music as she reclines on the couch. She hears the sound of the jukebox from the bar, but she does her best to tune it out; lets the sound of Elvis Presley's voice wash over her, lets the sound of the music lull her into a peaceful state - something she hasn't felt in ages; that feeling that only comes with dreams. 

She taps her hand against her thigh, slapping out the tune to the song, humming along to the words with a fond smile on her face as she sings along to " _(Marie's the Name Of) His Latest Flame_ _._ ” She would be lying if she said it was her favourite Elvis song, but there's no denying that she loves it anyways. 

It's yet another reason she knows she's sleeping, because Dean's music collection doesn't have any Elvis in it. It's not that he doesn't like The King, it's just his music comes from his father, and his father listened purely to classic rock. 

He mentioned on their journey to the bunker, when an Elvis song came on the radio, that he needed to add some of his music to his collection. Jo offered to go shopping for records with him after she had cut Amy's head from her shoulders. 

She's looking forward to doing both of those things; killing Amy and just living a _normal_ life with Dean and Sam and Cas. 

And Anna, a traitorous part of her mind adds, but she doesn't have the strength to bother protesting it. She wants to live a happy, normal life with the people that she cares about, and who care about her. 

Anna is one of those people. 

Jo closes her eyes as the guitar trails off, hoping to clear her mind as she waits for the next song to start up. When it doesn't come straight away, she finds herself frowning and she reopens her eyes, letting out a loud squeak when she's suddenly greeted by the sight of a redhead standing in front of her.

'Anna?' 

The redhead nods her head and Jo finds herself smiling, slowly standing from her seat and moving over to stand in front of the angel. 

'This is a dream, isn't it?' She questions and then finds herself chuckling when Anna nods her head again.

'It doesn't make it any less real, though. This is really happening, just… in your head.' Anna declares softy and Jo's smile widens at her comment. She doesn't know what she feels anymore, between being beat up, told she's her weak spot, and then finding out she was steering her away from the family she promised to take her to… but now as she stands in front of the angel, she finds that she doesn't care. She's just happy she's in Anna's presence again. 

'I'm sorry.' Jo finds herself saying, and she wonders why she's the first to apologise. Why she even _is_ apologising, because what the hell did she do wrong? Okay, yeah, maybe she was the one to throw the first punch, but what damage could she do to an angel?

Anna seems to be reading her mind, for she frowns at her and questions, 'Why are you sorry? You have nothing to be sorry about, Jo. You're human. Your reaction was perfectly normal because you were on edge. If anyone is supposed to be sorry, Jo… it's me.' 

Anna walks away from her then, moving past Jo in order to sit down on the couch that Jo had previously occupied. After only a moment of deliberation, Jo follows her, plopping herself down beside Anna with a small frown on her face.

Anna twists one hand in the other and Jo immediately feels the desire to take Anna's hand in hers; to feel Anna's hand entwined with hers and be the source of her comfort. But she doesn't do that, instead she closes her eyes for a second before reopening them with the decision that it'd just be weird for her to randomly start holding the angel's hand. 

'Anna, you don't have to apologise; Cas told me about how they used to have control over him and what they made him do. Seriously, I know what it's like to have that voice in your head telling you that what're you doing is for the right reasons.' 

'Is that all Castiel told you?' Anna questions and Jo feels her face heat up straight away after the question leaves her mouth. 

'Not exactly…' Jo trails off, not wanting to finish that sentence because of exactly _what_ Cas had told her. Anna raises her eyebrow but doesn't pressure her on it, so Jo takes that as a good sign and says nothing else on the matter.

'You and I never had the pleasure of meeting when I was the "good" person in Dean and Sam's life. From what I gather, you and your mother were busy trying to make a life without the Roadhouse, and I was on the run from angels… and then I was captured and you were killed and… it wasn't possible for us.' Anna takes a deep breath in, before she releases it in a equally deep exhale. 'So you don't know about my past. I was created an angel, and I was obedient and good, and I was in charge of the garrison and of Castiel. But then I grew tired; I started watching humanity and saw how _free_ you all were, and I wanted that.

'I carved my grace out, literally fell from grace and… I was born human.' She stops when Jo's head whips around to meet her gaze, surprise evident on her face as she does so. 'My parents couldn't have children, but when I fell, I needed to fall to something and because I didn't have a vessel… I fell to a womb.'

A smile spreads on her face as she starts to think of her family; of the life she left behind, threw away in order to help save Castiel and the Winchesters. She would've given anything to not swallow her grace; to have that energy thrumming inside her body once more, but she knew she needed to if she wanted to save the people she cared about. 

'I grew up normal, sure there was once I thought my real father, God, was going to hunt me down and kill me, but with therapy, I managed to bury that. My parents were religious, which worked in well with what I was before I suppose, but they were supportive. I wanted to get into journalism, and they were willing to send me to college, but all of that changed when I heard it. It was all I needed to hear to reconnect me with Heaven: _Dean Winchester is saved_. 

'I swallowed my grace to save Sam, Dean, Ruby, Castiel, everyone I cared about, from the demons and angels alike. I was hunted until Castiel betrayed me and gave me over to the angels and I was taken to prison. I was only allowed out on the condition I kill Sam Winchester. When Castiel made it clear that he wasn't going to let that happen, I went for the next best thing - killing Mary Winchester.' 

There's a hollowness in her voice and it's enough to break Jo from her feelings before about it being weird to hold the angel's hand. She reaches across to take Anna's hand between her own, threading her fingers through Anna's slender ones. 

'You don't need to tell me, Anna.' Jo declares, because she really doesn't need to know. She's already decided that she's going to trust the angel, no matter what. It wasn't her idea to beat her; it wasn't her idea to try and kill her, but it was her idea to pull her from Hell. That's all she cares about. She doesn't care about what got them there, because they've both got stories and pasts that they're probably not happy about, but they're the ones that made them the people they are now. That's all she scares about. 

'But I want to. I want you to trust me, truly.' Anna declares and Jo feels a warmth spread through her body at her words, because there's a _pleading_ in Anna's voice, as if Jo not trusting her would be enough to break her. 'I've done things in my past, Jo, things that should make you want to run me through, and yet you still sit here even though it's your dreams. You may have made the decision to trust me already, but I won't feel like I've earned that until you know this.' 

Her hazel gaze meets Jo's brown one a second later, and she seems to be begging Jo to understand; to know exactly what she means and surprisingly, Jo does understand what she's getting at. She knows what she means about not feeling worthy of trust bestowed upon her until everything is out in the open. 

Jo nods her head, letting Anna know this and with a small smile on her face, Anna continues, 'I was sent back to Heaven and to their prison for not succeeding, and I stayed there for… well, it seemed like forever. I couldn't see earth; I couldn't see what was happening, but I heard because Castiel, Dean and Sam - Team Free Will - were always the talk in Heaven. And I felt responsible, because if I had helped Cas, if I had guided him, I feel like I could've prevented things.' 

Her hand tightens around Jo's and despite the pain that shoots through her fingers, Jo doesn't hiss or wince, because the last thing she needs is for Anna to feel even more guilty about causing her pain. She keeps her face as neutral as possible and when Anna's fingers loosen their hold, she doesn't flex away the pain. She just grins and bears it… it definitely helps that she's had a lot of practice at it. 

'When Castiel had his grace taken from him, it was to perform a spell to cast all the angels from Heaven, but luckily another angel managed to stop it from happening, but Castiel's grace was lost in the fight that ensued. Not that I think he cares… I've never seen him happier than when he's with Dean.' 

Anna takes another deep breath in, and when she exhales this time, it's shaky and Jo has the feeling that if she were still human, there'd be tears trailing their way down her cheeks right about now. 

'That's when the angels came to me; told me to rescue a soul from Hell to prove my obedience and I was just so happy with that idea of getting out of that hell, that I didn't think about it; didn't question just how strange a request that was.' She lets out a cold chuckle, reaching up with her free hand to wipe away non-existent tears, and Jo finds herself grinning. After all these years, she apparently hasn't lost touch with her human side. 'It wasn't until after our fight that everything became clear; they didn't send me to Hell to prove my obedience, they sent me in with the belief I wouldn't survive.' 

Jo's hand tightens around Anna's this time, but she knows that she has no way in hurting the angel. She can remember punching and kicking her so hard that she has bruises on her knuckles and feet. But Anna doesn't have a single bruise on her pale skin; Jo still has the cuts on her face, the bruises and swelling from the various kinds of impact. She knows she has no way of injuring an angel of the Lord.

'What a bunch of dicks.' Jo declares and even though she meant it to be a one hundred percent true statement, it doesn't come across like that and Anna can't seem to stop herself from bursting out in laughter. 

'You can say that again.' Anna declares softly, sighing as her laughter finally trails off. 'I'd give anything to be away from Heaven again, Jo.' 

'You said you tore your grace out before… would doing that again-' 

'The spell is difficult and whilst I have a vessel now, I'd be surprised if I managed to keep it; falling from Heaven is… painful.' 

'Painful even to an angel? God, it must have been sore.' Jo chuckles, a wide smile spreading onto her lips before she hisses at the pain that shoots through it a second later, the sting from the cut coming back with a bite. 

She can feel Anna's eyes on her then, looking at all the damage and she can feel the apology bubbling under Anna's skin; can feel the fact she's ready to break down and hold herself guilty once more, so Jo does what she can to distract her.

'So, that's why Anna doesn't sound like an angelic name, because you were born human?' 

Anna smiles, 'No. My real name before I fell was Anael. Some angels still call me that, the ones that didn't know me well, or weren't in my garrison, but most people call me Anna. I prefer it. That life was easier; that life was the one I chose.' 

Jo doesn't know what to say to that; can't think of any words to console the angel or make her feel better, so she merely squeezes her hand that's still in her grasp again, hoping that it does something to help Anna. 

Anna turns her gaze back to her and Jo can see her eyes trail over the bruises and cuts and swelling from their fight last night. Her brown gaze is fixed on Anna's face as she slowly lifts her free hand and reaches out towards Jo's face. Her hand gently cups Jo's face, and when her thumb softly rubs over her cheekbone, Jo can't help the shiver that runs down her spine at that moment. 

'Anna,' she whispers softly, unsure of what she's asking or what she's planning on saying. Luckily, Anna doesn't seem to care about what she has to say, and doesn't prompt her any further. She merely continues to stroke her hand over Jo's cheekbone, rubbing the sensitive pad of her thumb across a small cut on Jo's face that has started to scab over. 

'I'd give anything not to go back to Heaven. I'd give anything to be like Castiel… _human_ again, being able to make my own decisions without having people breathing down my neck, or poking around inside my head. Just… I'd give anything to lose my grace again.' 

Her voice is a mere whisper as she speaks and Jo finds herself moving closer to her, drawing herself to her angel as if by a powerful force that would let her pull away from Anna's pull. 

'I'm sorry about your cuts and bruises.' Anna breathes quietly and Jo just manages to shake her head in reply, before there's soft lips upon hers, and a hand reaching up to entwine in her blonde locks. 

Their hands are still entwined together, but Jo reaches up with her free hand to run it through Anna's red hair, before she places it on the back of her neck, pulling her closer to her body as their lips part under the other's. Their breath mingles as they both let out a quiet gasp. 

It doesn't last long, and it's the most chaste kiss either of them have experienced, but it's enough to leave them both speechless and breathless; it's enough for them to migrate closer to each other until their foreheads are resting together and they're sharing the other's breath. 

'I'm going to make you a promise, Anna,' Jo starts, breaking their silence after God only knows how many minutes pass. Her lips brush Anna's as she speaks, but she doesn't get distracted. She needs to get this out because she needs to let Anna know what she's going to say; she needs to let Anna know that she's willing to save her from Heaven, just like she saved Jo from Hell. 

Anna raises her eyebrow, prompting Jo to continue, even though she doesn't need Jo to make her any kind of promise. She's curious nonetheless. 

'I'm going to help you break away from Heaven. I'm going to help you cut out your grace and keep your vessel, and you're going to live the life you want.' Jo declares, her free hand moving from behind Anna's neck to cup her cheek. 'I _promise_ you that, Anna.' 

And when Jo wakes up after that, it's with the words "I promise you" on her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


	7. This Scarlet Cross We Bear

Jo doesn't understand how Anna is in her room when she wakes up after spending their dream together; doesn't understand how she can be standing right there, beside her bed in the Bunker, when Anna had told her she couldn't fly anymore. 

'How?' She murmurs as she pulls herself into a sitting position, resting her weight on her hands as she uses them to support herself. She readjusts herself so she can bring one hand up to rub at her eyes, trying to wipe the sleep away from them so she can see Anna more clearly. 

'I lied before.' Anna admits all of a sudden,and Jo's hand freezes mid-air. 'I can use my wings. I just… between wanting to see just whether you were as bright when not surrounded by darkness, and because I knew that if I took your straight to Dean, Sam, and Cas, they wouldn't trust me. I'm sorry.' 

Jo stays silent for a long time, not quite sure how to reply to all the confessions within that sentence, and she shakes her head, trying to clear her mind. It doesn't work, though, and after blinking slowly, she turns back to Anna. 

'Okay, so… any other secrets you need to get off your back?' 

Anna is silent for a beat before she shakes your head, 'I don't think so.' 

'Well, it's my turn I take it. I got a call from Amy.' Jo declares into the darkness before she reaches over and turns the light on, deciding that she has no chance of getting back to sleep now. Not with Anna standing in her room, and even then, she doubt she'd manage after that dream. 'She's topside and she's planning on dragging me back to Hell. Guess she missed me.' 

Anna's eyes narrow dangerously and even Jo feels the desire to cower, even though she knows that glare is not directed at her; it's directed at the demon that tortured her in Hell. 

'When?' 

'Just after we fought. I went back to sleep and I was woken up by the phone ringing. At first I thought it was you, but when I answered it… it really wasn't.' Jo admits, before she pulls the covers away from her body and stands from the bed. She walks over to stand in front of Anna, looking up at the taller woman with a small smile on her face. 'Y'know, I think that kiss was a bit too short and sweet for people like us.' 

Anna's lips twitch and it takes only a moment before the serious, threatening expression on her face falls off with a soft chuckle. 

'I was beginning to think it was just a dream-you run away with yourself.' Anna admits in a soft voice, before her hand comes up to cup Jo's face, her thumb brushing over her cheekbone much like it did in the dream. 

'I don't do anything that I don't mean - unconscious or not.' Jo declares before she steps forward, pressing her lips against Anna's once more. They're even softer in real life, and Jo can't seem to stop the smile from spreading across her face as their lips start to move. 

Jo's hand comes up to entwine itself in Anna's fiery hair, and she gives it a sharp pull in order to get Anna in a better position so she can part her lips with her tongue. Surprisingly, the angel moves willingly and it's enough to set Jo on fire, having an angel yield so willingly to her. 

She tears her lips off of Anna's in order to look into her hazel eyes, before she surges upwards and connects their lips together again.

She has no idea where this is all coming from, mainly because there is so much more she should be worrying about. The fact the angels now want her and Anna dead; the fact that Amy has found her way out of Hell and is now searching for Jo to take her back "home.” There's a million things she should be focusing on and worrying about, and yet all Jo can think about is how soft Anna's lips are beneath hers, and how they move and fit so perfectly against her own. 

Jo's hand moves again, twisting Anna's sharply to the right so she can lower her lips onto Anna's neck and she starts to bite. No redness appears and there's no marks when Jo bites down, but Anna moans and arches her neck more, so Jo takes it to mean that although her skin is as tough as diamonds, it's still doing something. 

Jo's lips find their way back onto Anna's and she starts walking them back towards the bed, unsure of what she's really planning on doing when they collapse on top of it, because there's still something at the back of her mind telling her that it's not the best idea she's ever had. 

She's saved from making that decision, however, when the door is suddenly opening and Dean is at the threshold, stopping dead in his tracks at the sight he comes upon. 

'Should I dig out my earplugs or what?' Dean grins as she crosses his arms over his chest, watching as Anna and Jo jump away from each other, the latter cursing Dean's existence as she does so. 

'What the fuck, Dean?' Jo demands as she crosses her arms over her chest, trying to fight the blush that's creeping up her neck. 

'I just thought I'd let you know that we're all up, and we're starting to make a plan.' Dean starts, his eyes flickering over to Anna and when they meet her hazel eyes, his gaze doesn't leave to go back to Jo. 'When did she get here?' 

'A few minutes ago.' Jo answers. 'She came to me in a dream. Cas was right, the angels had control over her.' 

'They sent me to Hell in the hopes that the journey would kill me.' Anna adds, biting her lip as soon as she's finished because the look that Dean is giving her is threatening, even to an angel of her power. 

It also could be because Anna knows just what Dean Winchester is capable of doing when it comes to his family. 

Dean doesn't say anything for a long time, he only stares at Anna, studying her and almost testing her. He can remember the time they had sex… can remember that it was a matter of comfort for both of them and had nothing to do with manipulation, but he can't shake that feeling now. He knows Jo and knows that she'll only have sex with people she wants, but nothing is sitting right in Dean's mind. 

'Cas still has his blade.' Dean declares, his voice deep and gruff, and neither Jo nor Anna need to ask what that has to do with anything; they can practically hear the end of the sentence like a roar: " _so hurt her, and I'll use it on you_ _._ ” 'C'mon, we've got a demon bitch to hunt.' 

He doesn't give them any chance to reply, for he turns and starts walking the way he had come and Jo, still not over how fucking _huge_ the bunker was, immediately follows him so she doesn't get lost on the way. 

Jo can feel Anna walk a little bit behind her, almost as if she's afraid of the reaction she's going to get when Sam and Cas see her, but as Jo and her step out in front of them, she sees Jo lock eyes with each of them for a second or two, warning them not to say a word about it. 

She fells a small smile pull on her face, and steps forward to stand beside Jo then. 

'So, you're working on Amy?' Jo questions as soon as she's certain that neither of them are going to say anything about Anna, and she looks at the piles of books that are sitting in front of them with distaste. Research. Yes, she's _definitely_ missed that. 

'Yeah. This is normally when Cas would help but seeing as he's not got his wings…' Dean trails off, and Jo frowns because damn, it's amazing how much they took Cas' wings and powers for granted. 

'I'm useless now.' Cas declares, finishing Dean's sentence and everyone's gaze whip towards him, all of them shocked that he would think that of himself. 

'Shut up, Cas.' Jo declares the second Dean questions, 'What have I told you about thinking like that?' 

'I can help.' Anna takes a step forward, breaking the tension in the room as Dean and Cas seem to be having a silent argument with their eyes. 'You need someone who can flit about without a thought, and I can do that.' 

No-one says anything for a long time, and Anna grinds her teeth together, her eyes narrowing as she finally seems to snap. 'Dean! This demon wants to drag Jo back to the pit. Believe it or not, I don't want any harm to come to her; I care for her, Dean, and I would like the chance to help. Now tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it.' 

Dean's green eyes find Jo's a moment later, and Jo just sends him a small smirk before he sighs and turns back to Anna, sending her a small smile in return. 

'Hang on, I've got to talk to Cas about something. You three carry on, but I need to steal Cas.' Jo declares as she walks around the table and hauls Castiel out of his seat by grabbing ahold of his arm. 

'What the hell for?' 

'I'll tell you later.' Jo answers before she drags Cas out of the room, turning to him once they're three corridors away from the room the others occupied. 

'What can I do for you?' 

'You sound like a sales person.' Jo declares with a chuckle, before she decides to get down to business. 'Anna told me that she was once human, but that she took her grace back because, well, because of you.’

Cas nods, and a another look of guilt flashes across his face as he does so. Jo decides that she needs to deal with that at some point, but right now, she needs to see if she can actually keep the promise that she made to Anna in her dream. 

'She also told me that the first time she fell, it led to her being born as a human, instead of taking a vessel - even if she had one - and that was the most common way. But yet here you are, still in your old vessel and yet without your grace. I need to know how you - or this transformer - did it. For Anna.' 

Cas studies her for a moment and when he speaks again, it's not the question that Jo expected. At all. 

'You really care for her, don't you?' 

Jo is so taken aback by the question that she doesn't answer straight away, and even when she's finally processed the question, she still doesn't know what the answer should be. 

When she closes her eyes, however, she finds herself nodding her head and whispering, 'I do, yes.' 

When she reopens her eyes, Cas has a smile on his face that reminds Jo of Dean for some reason. The over-protective sibling wanting to make sure that their partner is good enough for their brother or sister. 

'Metatron took my grace for a spell, but instead of carving out your grace in a way that will make you fall, it is possible to remove your grace in a manner that won't. For instance, when Anna removed her grace, she did it by taking her blade and literally cutting herself up to get to her grace. When Metatron took mine, he made a small cut in my neck and siphoned it out. I wouldn't be surprised if the Men of Letters have something on angels and grace, to be honest.' Cas declares, trailing off as he looks down one corridor with a small frown on his face. 

Without saying another word, he takes off down the corridor, leaving Jo to follow him after watching his back for a confused moment or two. 

'Where are we going?' 

'The library. I presume you wanted me to actually help you research, not just tell you what I know.' 

'Well, yeah, that'd be nice… s'long as you can stay apart from Dean that long.' Jo teases, but Cas' next words freeze her to the spot a second later. 

'If you can survive that long without seeing Anna, I'm sure I'll manage being parted from Dean.' Cas declares, looking over his shoulder to see Jo frozen on the spot, and all he does is send her a teasing smirk before entering the library.

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Jo groans as she slams the book shut with a loud thud that echoes in the empty library. She crosses her arms over it and rests her head on top of the leather, closing her eyes and trying to fight back the disappointment that threatens to wash over her. 

She hears Castiel close his book, though it's not in aggravation that she did, it's more because he's actually finished reading what he was and has moved onto another one. This is confirmed when Jo feels his fingers brush her arm as he pulls a book from her side. 

'This is pointless, Cas. These idiots obviously know nothing.' Jo declares as she lifts her head again, looking around the library - which is _way_ bigger than actually necessary - before she turns back to Cas. 'Well, nothing about angels and their grace anyways.' 

Cas raises his head to look at her with a small frown on his face. He doesn't look like he's going to protest to her statement, which surprises her because she seriously expected him to be as in love with these men as Sam was. 

'Something tells me we're looking in the wrong place.' Cas says as he shuts the book again, setting it on top of his read pile. 'I remember Dean saying something about there being a special library… I wonder if the angels are going to be in the same place where he found the cure for demons.' 

Jo does a double take then, her eyes shooting to Cas' in disbelief. 

'I'm sorry, _what_ did you just say? A _cure_ for demons? Like… what? Turning them good?' 

'Pretty much. It's a blood spell where it takes away the demonic soul and leaves them as a human within their vessel. They were going to do it with Crowley, in order to close the gates of Hell, but Dean stopped Sam once he was informed that Sam was going to die if he completed it.' 

Cas stands from his seat then, pushing his chair back and he starts to walk out of the library, leaving Jo alone for a second. She soon realises that she hasn't got a clue where he's going, so jumps up and runs after him, just catching sight of him disappearing into a room down the hall. 

'You need to learn to communicate better.' Jo states softly as she enters the room, her brown eyes taking in the sight before her. Brown, cardboard boxes are stacked on top of dusty shelves. 

She guesses there must be hundreds of them, seeing as she can count twenty on the shelf closest to her, which is one of many. 

She heads over to another shelf, her finger coming up to trace over the white label that reads "Demon sightings.” The entire shelf is covered in boxes with the same label, and even though she's been to Hell herself, she really didn't think there was as many demons as this is making out. 

She bites her lower lip as she moves even further into the room, looking over her shoulder ever now and then to make sure that Castiel is still there with her. She reaches up and pulls a box labelled "Hellhounds" down off its shelf, lifting the lid off it to see what is inside. 

It's just a bunch of documents and files, but it's all the legends and myths that surround hellhounds, as well as cases of victims of the monsters. Jo rakes through it, flicking each piece of paper forward and she curiously tries to find out if her and her mother's death was documented. 

Unfortunately, the last entrance was 1958 and then there's nothing else. 

Jo takes another box down off the shelf - one labelled "Wendigos" - and starts to rifle through it as well, only to see the same thing. Their information and sightings only go up to 1958 and then stop. 

'What happened in 1958, Cas?' 

'Many things; Sputnik fell from orbit in January 4th, Elvis Presley was recruited into the US Army in March 24th, Charles Starkweather went on a killing spree in-' 

'I meant with the Men of Letters, Cas.' Jo interrupts, sending him a small smirk as she holds a piece of paper up, citing the last known sighting of a Wendigo for him to see. 'What happened to them? All these documents stop in 1958.' 

'Abaddon, a Knight of Hell, made it her mission to destroy them all. Nearly all of them were slaughtered, and the one that survived was blinded so he couldn't continue this work. The bunker was abandoned and the Men of Letters were no more.' Castiel explains before he turns his back on her, going back to looking at the boxes in front of him, a frown of concentration etched on his face. 

'So, how did Sam and Dean come across this place?' 

'Their grandfather, Henry Winchester, travelled into the future and found them.' Cas answers, as if that's the most normal sentence he's ever uttered. 

' _What_?'

'I've got something.' Cas says instead, pulling down a box named "Christian Mythology" and carries it to the nearest table. He pulls the lid off and then proceeds to pull out all the scraps of paper. 

Jo frowns when she sees the difference between the ones she had been looking at and this box, because everything in the other boxes were so official looking; perfectly bound by string and in pristine, lined A4 paper.  

The notes in here, however, were random scraps; torn and frayed edges as if torn from another notebook; a variety of colour as if ripped from magazines and papers, before having some information scribbled on it and then thrown in this box. 

Jo reaches for the first bit of paper that is nearest to her and when she turns it over she's greeted by the back of a betting slip. She rolls her eyes before she turns it over again, reading the hastily written pencil scratchings. 

_"Archangels - highest ranking of celestials. Seraphim - same power as archangels, but no contact with God."_

'Is this true?' Jo enquires, handing the piece of scrap paper to Castiel, who sets the piece he was reading on the table in order to take Jo's. 

He nods his head once before he hands the paper back to Jo. 'Yes. We actually have more power than archangels, but because they actually _saw_ God, they were higher ranking.' 

Cas picks up another piece of paper and raises it to his face, squinting hard to read the small scribble in the top corner of a piece of old newspaper. He scoffs once he's deciphered it, and with a roll of his eyes, he crumples it into a small ball and throws it over his shoulder. 

It's after the third time that Jo passes him a plausible lead, and he only laughs or rolls his eyes before going back to his own research, does Jo stand from her seat with a sigh.

'Look, you know more about your kind than I do. This'll go much quicker if I'm not constantly interrupting you to ask whether or not something is true. Let me know if you find anything, but I'll go and leave you in peace.' 

Castiel nods his head. 'That will probably be best. Yes,' he mutters, before he lowers his gaze back to the papers in front of him and Jo takes that as her cue to leave.

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Three days pass and they still have had no luck finding a way to remove Anna's grace in a way that wouldn't cause her to lose her vessel. Jo realises that simply hacking it out with an angel blade would definitely lead to her losing her vessel, because her vessel would be ruined and her grace would have nowhere to go, so that would pretty much go boom. And Jo didn't want that. 

But she and Cas are no fucking closer to finding anything else, so she's starting to lose hope on ever finding a way. 

'I told you that you didn't have to do this.' Anna's voice breaks into her thoughts, and she is suddenly brought back to reality with a sharp tug.

'And I told you that I promised I'd help you lose your grace in a safe manner.' Jo retorts as she takes the bottle of beer that Anna offers her with a meek smile. 

'Dean told me you'd like it.' Anna admits with a shrug, as she sits up on the table beside Jo. 'Jo, you don't have to drive yourself insane looking for a way to do this. The thought itself means more than you think.' 

'Anna, I'm going to find something. I've got reasons other than helping you, as bad as it sounds. I mean, sure, that's my main priority, but those dick heads ordered you to kill me because of how close I was getting to you. Do you think I want you still having a connection with Heaven with the chances of them wheedling their way back into your mind? I'd constantly be looking over my shoulder with you… and I don't want that.' 

Anna is silent for a long moment, her hazel eyes fixed on Jo's face. There's no expression on the angel's face, not for a long time - not until she turns her head and lets out a breathless chuckle.

'What do you want then, Jo? If I fall… what happens next?' 

'It depends.' 

'On?' 

'On whether we manage to get Amy or not.' Jo admits softly. 'If we manage to kill the bitch, I see myself moving into a room in here, with my family, and you'll have your own room as well, even though the chances of us occupying more than one room is as slim as Dean and Cas' chances… and we just… _live,_ I guess.' 

'And if we don't catch Amy?' 

'Then I'm not giving up or settling down until I've got her blood stained on my hands.' Jo finishes with a growl, and it's all Anna can do to reach out and wrap her arm around Jo's shoulder. 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Jo and Cas are bunkered up in the library, all the information that Cas managed to dig out the week before spread out in the table in front of them, when Dean, Sam, and Anna burst into the room, disrupting their peace and quiet. 

'What's up?' Jo questions the second she sees the look on their faces, immediately throwing down the paper and kicking her feet off the table she had them rested on. 

'We got a call from Amy… she said she knew where you were and was coming to get you. We just… panicked.' Sam admits as he reaches up and rubs the back of his neck. 'You haven't seen anyone or let them in, right?' 

''Course not!' Jo retorts, but before she can expand any further, the cell that's in her pocket starts to ring. Jo swallows hard because it's a new one, and literally the only people who have it, are the four people standing in the room with her. It was one of the ones that Dean had stashed, just incase of emergency and they needed to change things. It wasn't even registered before Jo got it!

'Fuck.' She whispers, before she pulls the cell out of her pocket and presses the green button, putting it on speaker a second later. 

The sound of cruel, cold laughter seeps in through the speaker and Jo grits her teeth together, because that sound has haunted her nightmares ever since she was pulled from the Pit. 

' _They really do care for you. That's_ ** _adorable_.** ' Amy's voice follows it once it stops, and Jo growls at her, deciding to ignore the fact that her family are actually in the room with her. 

'The picture I'm going to paint with your blood is also going to be adorable!' Jo snarls into the phone, but it doesn't get the desired effect she had hoped for, and all Amy does is let out another chuckle again. 

' _Sweetie pie, you know I love it when you talk like that._ ' Amy murmurs in reply. ' _It's half the reason I'm so determined to pull you back down; you know we were having so much fun. I nearly got you to crack, didn't I? And I know you've had dreams about it. How you've craved it. Don't try and pretend you've missed your time in the Pit.'_

Jo grinds her teeth together, trying to stop yet another vicious growl from breaking free. She knows that it'll only add fuel to Amy's fire, knowing she got a reaction from Jo. 

'Tell me, Amy, are you missing Olivier? The last time I saw him, Anna was turning him to ash. I can remember the look of fear on his face when Anna descended in front of him, encasing him with her grace and burning him from the inside out.' 

There's silence on the other side of the phone, and Jo can't stop the smile that spreads across her lips, because even though she knows it's far from over, that Amy isn't going to stop with some silly threat, it still means she won a round. 

' _Listen here, Joanna, angel blades are not as rare as gold anymore, and I'm going to have as much fun as possible shoving one through your precious Anna's neck, before stabbing you in your stomach, with her blood still on the metal. Just wait._ ' Amy snarls into the phone, all joking and playfulness that was in her voice disappearing. ' _You want to act like a big girl with big threats? Come and find me at the place you joined me. We'll see who the big girl is then._ ' 

As soon as she's finished speaking, the line goes dead as Amy hangs up on Jo, who takes a moment before she lets out a huff of annoyance and throws the phone onto the desk on top of all of her and Cas' research. 

'"The place you joined me?” Where would that be?' Castiel questions as he stands from his seat, moving to stand beside Dean, who's green eyes are focused entirely on Jo, studying her in that way only Dean can. 

'Carthage, Missouri.' Jo answers immediately, not even tearing her eyes away from the cellphone that still sits on the desk, half expecting it to ring again. 'That's where that bitch sent a pack of hellhounds after us, and one tore my guts out.' 

'Bitch? What bitch? _Amy_?' Cas questions and Jo can suddenly remember that he wasn't about when all of this happened. He just disappeared to find out why the reapers were there. 'I thought the only demon that was there was Meg.' 

'Yeah, and that's the bitch I'm referring to.' Jo gives a humourless grin, lifting her gaze away from the cell and turning back to the others. 

'I'd watch what you’re saying. Cas kinda fell in love with her.' Dean informs and there's a hint of bitterness in his voice that Jo doesn't miss. But she turns back to Cas with a disbelieving look on her face and frowns. 

'You fell in love with the demon that killed me, all the while my brother was pining after you?' Jo says, her eyes narrowing dangerously. 'You have _got_ to be kidding me.' 

No-one says anything, not for a long time and as Jo studies each of them, listening to the silence that surrounds them, she realises something. 'You befriended her as well, didn't you? You actually _worked_ with the demon that killed me and my mom?' 

'We didn't have a -' Sam starts and Jo just rolls her eyes, shaking her head before she snatches the cell from the table. Her eyes meet Anna's and it takes only a moment before Jo makes her decision. 

'I'm going to Carthage.' Jo interrupts Sam in his defence, and just lets her words flow after that. 'I am going to face this bitch and I'm going to burn her to a crisp. And maybe, just _maybe,_ I'll get over the fact that you befriended and probably _fucked_ the demon that killed me, my mom and for all I know, my dad.' 

She pockets her cellphone after that, before she heads towards the door. It's only when she's at the threshold does she turn back and look at her family once more. 

'Now, are you coming with me or not?' 

And all she gives them is a raised eyebrow, before she disappears from sight, leaving them in the room with expressions ranging from disbelief to shock. 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

The drive to Carthage is long and tense, especially with the new revelation that sits between them all. Jo sits in the back, her head always turned out the window as she drums her father's dagger against her thigh. Once or twice, someone tries to engage her in conversation, but she keeps her answer to the shortest way possible, and just goes back to looking out the window, watching the country pass by her. 

It isn't until the arrive in Carthage, with flashbacks shooting through her mind does Jo actually say more than five words. 

'So, how are we going to do this? How are we going to find her?' She questions as she steps out of the Impala, shutting the door behind her as she lets Anna out of the car after her. 

'Don't worry, baby, I'll always find you.' 

The words are whispered directly into her ear and Jo jumps away from her, her hand going straight for the blade that's hidden in her jeans. 

'Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't do that.' Amy whispers softly, and before Jo can even question what she's talking about, there's shouts of protest coming from behind her and when she turns, letting down her guard despite herself, she sees a bunch of black-eyed demons, pulling the others into their grasp and holding them there with knives tight against their neck. 

When Jo's eyes land on Anna, they see an angel blade much like the one she holds in her own hand, pressed against her long neck, and Jo grinds her teeth together. If she hadn't taken Anna's blade from her, she'd be able to break free and kill the damn thing; kill them all. 

Jo turns back to Amy, who's watching Jo with a smirk on her lips. 

'You humans… your love and family is always your weakness.' Amy laughs, a harsh, cold sound that still manages to send cold shivers down Jo's back. 'You'd think you'd learn from all the mistakes you keep making, but no. You just keeping making them over and over again. It makes me wonder _why_ my father failed to win the apocalypse.' 

Her eyes go black then, showing her true nature and even though that sight has been warped in her mind, so as to strike fear into the very pit of her stomach, Jo manages to stay strong and clenches her jaw tight together as Amy continues to talk. 

'Then again, you didn't exactly win either, did you?' She grins, and her eyes flick over to Dean, Sam, Cas, and Anna, who are still held tight in the other demon's grasps. Dean tries to break free again, but he's held tight and the knife nicks his skin, leading to a small trickle of crimson blood to drip down his neck. 

That's when Jo seems to snap. 

'Let them go, Amy, they've got fuck all to do with this. This is between you and I!' Jo snarls as she tightens her hold on the blade that Anna had loaned her. 

'Oh honey, you think I'm going to let them go so it's five against one? I don't think so. My friends sit on the sidelines, so do yours. And then my friends will skin them alive once I send you to the Pit and I follow shortly behind.' 

Jo lets out a growl before she lunges towards her, no longer able to just stand and _talk._ She's been craving this day since Amy first appeared in her cell in Hell, and she's not going to just let it flit by. She wants blood on her hands, and she wants it to be messy. 

She slashes through the air with Anna's angel blade, but Amy leans back and dodges the oncoming attack. She lets out a cold chuckle and the painted red lips of her meatsuit pulls into a smirk.

'That the best you can do, lovely? You had more promise in the Pit.' 

Jo grunts as she swings her arm again, smiling when she manages to catch her cheek. Amy hisses in pain, her hand flying up to cup the cut and Jo just chuckles. 

'I forgot about that.' She smirks before she lunges forward again, readjusting her hold on Anna's blade so she can slash at Amy once more, catching her again on the arm. 

It takes another three times before Jo gets close enough to kick Amy in the stomach, sending her to the ground with a grunt. 

'I won't be seeing you in Hell when I get back there.' Jo snarls, before she falls forward with the blade poised above her. She thrusts the metal straight through the centre of Amy's heart, piercing her heart and with a smirk on her face, Jo watches as the tremors run through the demon's meatsuit; violent shocks of light showing that the demon that tortured her in Hell is finally dead and gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


	8. We Risk Everything Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things get a little sexy in this at the end. also i made an attempt on enochian, so to see what it means just hover over the underlined text

Jo doesn't move for a long time. She keeps her hand clenched around the blade, her knuckles pure white with the force of her grasp, and she keeps it locked firmly in Amy's heart, not daring to pull it out incase she jumps up, having survived it all. She twists it every now and then, hearing the squelch of the blood and watching as it splatters onto her hands, painting them crimson red. 

'Jo.' She hears it whispered close to her ear, but she doesn't move, doesn't turn her head to look over her shoulder to see who's talking. Her eyes remain locked firmly on Amy's black ones, watching as they remain unmoving, unblinking. She's just waiting for them to blink; waiting for a smirk to stretch on those red lips and for that _laugh_ to break free again. 

A hand is on her shoulder a moment later, and Jo jumps, blade still in hand as she tugs it from Amy's body, expecting it to be another demon trying to hurt her. 

When she turns, however, she comes face to face with Anna, who's looking down at her with concern etched on her face. 

'It's over. She's gone.' She whispers, and whilst Jo still can't seem to believe it, as she turns back to look at Amy's lifeless corpse, she realises that it _is_ over. She's gone. 

Jo extends her hand, handing the blade back to Anna who takes it with only a small amount of hesitation. It disappears a moment later, and Jo doesn't even care about the fact it just disappears, for she's only got one intention in mind. 

She pulls herself up from her kneeling in front of Amy's dead body, and she throws herself into Anna's arms, wrapping her own around the angel's neck. 

'Shh.' Anna whispers, her hand coming up to rub soothing circles on Jo's back, before they move up to card through her blonde locks. Her eyes meet Dean's over Jo's head, and she sends him a smile, which she hopes is reassuring, but knows it came out looking out weary more than anything. 

'C'mon, Jo… let's go home.' Dean declares as he walks away from Cas, and the bodies that Anna had taken care of the second Jo had plunged the blade into Amy's chest. 

He walks over to her, but when she pulls away from Anna's embrace, she doesn't even bother to look at him. She walks straight over to the Impala once more, sliding into the seat she had previously occupied and slams the door behind her. 

Dean and Anna share a look, but Anna just sighs and shakes her head before she walks over to slip in beside Jo. 

Just like the trip to Carthage, the trip back home is silent and full of tension. No-one dares speak a word, not when Jo is so on edge that every time someone coughs or clears their throat, she jumps and her hand flies for her dagger. 

Luckily, Anna's hand always finds its way to Jo's after a moment like that, and all it takes is a small, reassuring squeeze from the angel before Jo is relaxing again, melting into the leather seats of the Impala. 

The sky is pitch black by the time they get back to Kansas, and even though she's still not one-hundred-percent convinced that Amy is gone, Jo's stopped jumping every time someone breathes. 

When she leaves the Impala and enters the bunker again, she stops Dean with a hand clasping around his. He waves everyone on ahead, telling Cas that he'll get him at their room before he turns back to Jo. 

She doesn't say anything to him, she merely reaches up and wraps her arms around his neck, enveloping him in a warm embrace, tucking her head into the crook of his neck as he wraps his arms around her waist. 

'Everything's okay, Jo.' He whispers into her hair, and all she can do is nod her head and pray that he is right; that everything is going to be okay now.

A part of her is expecting her cellphone to ring at any moment, to hear that voice and that cold laugh again, but she knows that it won't happen. 

Amy's dead. 

Amy's _dead_. She needs to remember that; repeat it until it's the only thought in her head and she fucking _realises_ it. 

She goes to pull away from him, but he only allows her to pull her head back so she can look him in the face. He gives her a soft, reassuring smile before he leans forward and presses his lips to her forehead. 

Her heart skips when she sees him lean closer to him, but when his lips land on her forehead, she finds that she's not as disappointed as she would have been before she died. Normally, whenever he acted like that towards her, it just reminded her how much she didn't stand a chance with him; how she was only his little sister and nothing more. 

But now it's… reassuring. They've finally figured their relationship out; just what they're supposed to be to each other. It's comforting. 

'I love you, Dean.' Jo declares softly, no hesitance within her words as she utters them. 

And something has definitely changed within Dean Winchester, for instead of looking afraid or worried about that revelation, a warmth appears in his gaze and a wide, genuine smile appears on his lips as he murmurs back, 'Me too.' 

He presses another soft kiss against her forehead before he lets her disentangle herself from his grasp. 

'Goodnight, Dean.' She murmurs before she turns and starts to walk away, but before she can get around the corner, Dean is calling out to her again.

'Please tell me you're going to be staying with us?' 

He phrases it like a question but Jo knows its more a plead than that. 

She turns back to him and nods her head, 'Of course I am. Can't leave my family behind, Dean.' 

She doesn't wait for his reply or reaction to that, she turns on her heel and makes her way back to the room that she claimed for her own. When she enters it, she finds Anna sitting on her bed, her eyes fixed on the door, almost waiting for Jo's arrival. 

'Before you say anything,' Jo starts, holding her hand up when Anna stands from the bed, walking over to stand in front of Jo. 'I've got something to say to you, first.' 

'What is it?' Anna questions, because even though she's pretty sure that Jo wouldn't throw her out at this point, not after promising to help her remove her grace, she's still not sure. There's still so much she doesn't know about the young hunter, and she doesn't know how likely she is to change her mind. 

'Cas and I found a rather safe way for you to remove your grace. If you still want it out of you, then we can start working on it tomorrow.' 

'You're still going to be by my side, if I remove my grace?' 

Jo gives a small smile. 'Of course. I'm not leaving you, Anna.' 

A smile breaks across Anna's face then and she waves her hand towards the bed as it grows. 

'Then you best get some rest. We're going to have a busy day tomorrow.' 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

Jo's eyes trail down the list in front of her, humming as she crosses off the things she's sure she's already got, or will be easy enough to find. 

'Have you narrowed it down to the things I need to get yet?' Anna questions impatiently, standing from her seat to look over Jo's shoulder, looking at all the things that has been ticked off and trying to decipher Cas' messy scrawl for the other things. 

'Just about.' Jo murmurs, turning her head briefly to catch Anna's gaze before she turns back to the paper. 

Anna rolls her eyes before she pushes away from the back of Jo's chair, moving over to one of the trees that surround the bench and table area that they were sitting at. Despite the fact that Anna had managed to find Jo after her dream, it took a lot of energy out of her and she didn't want that when she was collecting the ingredients for the spell. 

That's when Dean suggested the nearby woods, and the bench and table that was there. Jo had asked Dean how he found it, but after the sheepish way he looked at Cas and rubbed the back of his neck, she then declared she didn't want to know.

'Okay, the things we've got, I'm just going to run this by you incase you realise that we haven't got something I think we have.' Jo lifts her gaze to Anna, watching as the angel nods her head, before she turns it back to the list. 'So, a thin brush for the sigils, blood, spray paint, the passage that Cas is currently translating and your angel blade. Good?' 

'Good, yes.' Anna nods as she moves away from the tree and walks back over to sit beside Jo. 'What do you need me to get?' 

'Well, these were the things that I didn't know whether we had or not. Uh, holy oil?' 

'Dean's got that in the trunk of the Impala.' 

'Okay,' Jo scores it out. 'There needs to be one sigil on the wall of the place we do it, but I guess Cas didn't mark down whether that was blood too, or paint.' 

'It'll be blood. Most Enochian spells are blood spells. 

'God, I'm gonna need a ton of crackers to deal with the amount of blood I'm going to be giving.' Jo cracks a smile. 'We also need holy ground… do you know of an abandoned church nearby? 

Anna closes her eyes as soon as Jo is finished talking, her entire face relaxing as she takes a deep breath in and when she exhales, she declares, 'There's one twelve miles south of here. Abandoned, but still holy and in one piece. The last time someone ventured near it was two weeks ago to get high, but the police raided it so they haven't been back.' 

Anna reopens her eyes with a soft exhale, almost as if she was letting go of a weight. 

'Would that do?' 

Jo stares at her, wide eyed and open mouthed for what seems like _hours,_ only breaking out of it when Anna prompts her by calling her name. 

'Uh,' Jo clears her throat. 'Yeah… yeah, that'll do.' 

She nods her head, trying not to think about the fact that she could find _all of that information_ out, by simply closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in.  

'I know the obedience thing sucks, Anna, and them having a price on your ass… but isn't being the biggest predator on the food chain a good thing? You can make the ground quake; you can fly around the world with only a flick of your wings - you _have wings_ \- and you can smite demons with a touch of your finger, and overpower a human with your pinky… why would you want to be like one of us?' 

Anna smiles, turning her gaze away from Jo to look back at the tree. 

'You're more like Dean than you know. He had the same question, and I'm going to tell you what I told him all those years ago, before I took my grace back inside and became an angel again. The ability to feel; to feel happy, sad, angry, and lustful. To feel ecstatic and mad, to feel hungry and worthless. All of it… all of it is so much better than being cold, unmoving statues. Power isn't everything; I know that's hard for you to grasp, because in your life, that's what you've needed, but when all you've ever had is orders and obedience… when you get a _touch_ of what it's like to feel… you don't want to go back to that, Jo.' 

Anna turns her gaze back to Jo and when their eyes connect, Jo realises there's a thin film of unshed tears over Anna's brown orbs. 

'You don't want to go back at all.' 

Jo doesn't know what to say to that, and all she can do is clear her throat and offer her friend a small smile. A small, hopefully a reassuring and understanding smile. 

'Okay.' Jo turns away from Anna, turning back to the previously forgotten list. 'Lastly, we'll need something to contain your grace in. If we don't have something for it to flow into, it's more likely to rip your vessel apart.' Jo explains, lifting her brown eyes from the list that Castiel had given her, and turning to Anna. 

Only to find her gone. 

'Anna?' Jo calls out, pulling her legs down from the table as she stands from the seat. 'Anna? Where the hell did you go? _Anna_?' 

'I was getting the vial.' Anna's voice is suddenly behind her again, and when Jo turns around wildly, hair flaring out around her, she finds Anna standing where she was before, looking as if she hadn't just disappeared. 

The thing that gives it away, however, is the small vial that dangles from a silver chain, that's enclasped in her hand. 

'I only called for a vial, Anna, not a locket.' Jo smirks as she extends her hand out towards Anna, taking the vial from her with one hand, whilst the other cups the elegant chain that flows from Anna's fingers. 

'I know that.' Anna retorts, biting her lower lip as Jo finally takes full possession of the vial. 'But I was thinking that, if it had a chain, it'd be easier for you to keep; easier for you to wear.' 

Jo's eyes widen at those words, and they dart up to meet Anna's hazel ones a moment later. 

'Wha-what do you mean?' 

'Well, I was hoping you'd wear my grace… that way I'd know it was always going to be somewhere safe; so I don't need to worry about someone taking it from me again… hiding it from me again.' 

Jo isn't sure what to say to that. She isn't even sure what the correct reaction to that is, and so it takes her a few moments before she even manages to wrap her head around what Anna is asking. 

'Are you sure? Like, are you really, _really_ positive about this?' Jo questions, because she doesn't even know what else to say. She needs to make sure that Anna is one-hundred-percent sure about giving Jo her grace to keep. That's a really big move, and it could be seriously stupid… seeing as Jo is just a human and doesn't have a chance of defending it against the likes of an angel. 

'I wouldn't have asked if I weren't. I know you'll keep it safe, no matter what happens tonight, so… please?' 

Jo's gaze flickers from Anna to the vial a few times, before they land firmly on the vial. Her eyes trace over the beautiful rose engravings on the lid of the vial and how one vine turns into the hoop that the chain is looped through.

The chain is silver and dainty, and as Jo takes a deep breath and brings the chain over her head, letting it settle around her neck, she finds that it's long, the vial resting between her breasts. She will be able to be hidden under her t-shirt. No matter how low cut they happen to be. 

When she raises her gaze back to Anna's, she finds a warm smile on the angel's face and she can't help but return it. 

'Okay, we've got everything. Let's go and do this thing.' 

_~oOoOoOoOoOo~_

When they pull up at the old church, Jo bites her lower lip as fear starts to wash over her. She trusts that Castiel translated everything perfectly; she trusts him to have drawn out the Enochian sigils right… that's not the problem. The problem is she doesn't trust herself. 

She doesn't trust herself to pronounce the words right; she doesn't trust herself to draw the blood sigils right. She just doesn't trust herself to do anything right, and that worries her, because it's not just her own life on the line. 

It's Anna's, and Dean's, and Sam's, and Cas'. It's their lives that are also threatened and potentially ruined if she fucks up. She can't stand that very thought, the one that she'd be the cause of their deaths and would ruin their lives, and it's this thought that's in her mind as she slips out of the Impala. The pieces of paper gripped tightly in her hand. 

Dean, Sam, Cas, and Anna are already walking towards the church door, apparently oblivious to the fact that Jo hasn't moved from the side of the Impala, her brown eyes fixed on their retreating forms. 

She can't be the cause of their deaths. 

Anna has trusted her to succeed, and sure, Jo doesn't want to do something wrong and kill her, but she's _promised_ Anna that she'd at least give it a try, and Anna has declared that no matter what happens, she'll always be grateful to Jo for trying. 

Sam, Dean, and Cas made no such promises; no such vows. They don't need to be inside the church when all of this happens; they don't need to be inside the church when it goes up in flames. 

 _God, I'm such an optimist_ , Jo thinks with a growl, before she slams the door of the Impala shut, the loud sound echoing to the others, who seem to just realise that she isn't behind them.

'Jo, you all right?' Dean calls and Jo nods her head. She takes a deep breath before she runs over to them, telling them to stop as they go to resume walking into the church. 

'What's wrong?' Castiel questions and Jo's eyes flicker around them all. If this goes up in smoke, they're going to be away. They're going to be _safe,_ she's going to make sure of that. 

'You three aren't going in the church.' Jo states, deciding that sugarcoating it just wouldn't be the best idea. 

'What d'you mean?' Sam enquires and Jo shakes her head, trying to clear the images of everyone burning because of her. Maybe she _did_ belong in Hell like Amy had said. 

'Look, I'm not confident about this. I keep having visions of me saying something wrong, or fucking up the sigils. And if that happens, I don't want you three inside that church when it burns. This is between Anna and I, and I'm not having that on my conscience.'

'Jo, we've been through worse and survived. Trust me, we'll be-' 

'Do not say you'll be _fine_ , Dean! Incase you forgot, you made the same promise to me as I lay dying! We're so fucking similar, Dean, and I can see through your words.' Jo snaps, before she takes a deep breath to calm herself. 'Just… stay out here, in the Impala, and promise me, that when it looks like something is going wrong, you start the car and drive to the bunker.' 

Dean studies her for a moment, green eyes trailing over her face but mostly looking her in the eye. Finally, he gives a humourless chuckle and shakes his head. 

'If we're so alike, Jo, then you'll know I'm not going to make that promise.' 

Despite herself, a smirk pulls at her lips, and she nods her head in defeat. 

'Fine. But promise me you'll just… stay out here? I don't want to worry about you, and if I worry, I'm more likely to fuck up. At least if I can't see you, I can _think_ you'll just leave when something starts to go wrong. Please, Dean, please.' 

She doesn't find it weird that she's only addressing Dean, she knows that if she manages to convince him, Sam and Cas will stay behind too. She knows that Dean's going to be the hardest one to convince, and that's why she focuses on him. 

Eventually, Dean lets out a defeated sigh and nods his head. Jo sends him a thankful smile, but he soon envelopes her in his arms, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead. 

When he lets her go, he turns and walks back to the Impala, grabbing ahold of Cas' hand as if he needed the support. 

Jo watches them walk for a moment or two before she turns back to Anna. 

'Ready to do this?' 

Anna just nods before she pushes the doors of the old, wrecked church open, and with a deep breath, Jo follows her inside.

It's damp and there's something creaking. Jo doesn't know whether that's the whole building or a ghost that she's going to have to salt and burn later. She seriously hopes it's the latter; that she knows how to do. She has no idea what to do if it starts collapsing around them and she's got a comatose angel to drag out. 

Jo stands still by the the threshold of the door, papers still clenched firmly in her hand, and the weight of the bag with everything inside feeling heavy on her shoulders. She watches Anna flit about the room, moving a chair into the centre before dragging a dusty table over beside it. 

Once everything is in its place, she turns back to Jo and raises her eyebrow, prompting Jo to move over to her after giving a jump to start, as if it was the first time she had been caught staring at the angel. 

She empties the contents out onto the table, placing them in a line in the order she'll be needing them. She then places the lined piece of paper on the only empty space left. She only has one incantation to do, the rest is all writing and sigils that are to be painted on Anna's body. 

'Okay, sit down. I'm as ready as I'll ever be.' Jo declares, motioning to the chair with her hands. She picks up the syringe that Dean had loaned her to get her blood out easier, and with a piece of cloth she ties her arm off. 

It stings when she inserts the needle, but it doesn't last long and when she's sure she's got enough blood, she pulls the needle out with another small hiss. A small dot of blood swells on the entrance, but Jo ignores it as she empties it into the bowl. 

She looks to Anna once more, either offering her an out or looking to her for belief, before she picks up the piece of paper and walks over to the nearest wall. The sigil is one of protection, Cas had told her. It wouldn't effect the spell but it was to ward out any evil. 

Jo takes a deep breath before she dips the paintbrush into her blood, raising it to the wall with a shaking hand as she starts to paint. 

She's finished in no time, and when she turns back to Anna, she doesn't realise that she's missed out a cross on one line. 

When she reaches the table again, she douses the vial Anna had picked with a small amount of holy oil, before she pulls Dean's lighter and sets it on fire. She's not sure how long it's going to burn for, but she knows that no matter what, it'll be out the minute Anna's grace enters it.

'I'm gonna need more skin, so, take your shirt off.' Jo advises, before her eyes widen at the way she phrased that and she feels a blush decorate her cheeks as she stammers, 'I mean, can you… so I can actually draw these all out and not miss any?' 

Anna gives her a teasing smirk before she reaches down and pulls her t-shirt off from the hem. She sets it down on the ground, deciding not to cover up any of Jo's instruments incase she forgot they were there and missed out something important. 

Jo sets to work as soon as soon as Anna is left in only her bra, and she double checks the diagrams before she makes a line, and then double checks it after she's drawn it out. 

Once or twice, she has to reach for the cloth and rub out the recent marking, after realising that it's not actually correct. 

Anna is patient with her, even though Jo doesn't know whether that has to do with her trust in Jo, or the effects of the spell. It calls for an unconscious angel, so the pain is kept to a minimum. Each sigil helps draw the grace to the surface, all the while luring it to almost turn off; like lulling a baby to sleep. 

Her eyes start to droop as more of her skin is covered, and every once in a while, Jo stops to take a deep breath, her eyes focusing on Anna's face. That's when Anna would force her eyes open, so that she could meet Jo's gaze and send her a reassuring smile that encourages the blonde to pick up the paintbrush again and continue painting the sigils on the angels body.

When Anna's eyes finally flutter shut and don't open up again, Jo moves over to the table, setting the piece of paper and the bowl with the paintbrush down before she picks up the angel blade. 

It suddenly hits her how much _trust_ Anna must have in her, to leave her alone with her blade, whilst she's unconscious and unable to defend herself. She really believes that Jo will not hurt her and will be able to do this, and it's that thought that makes Jo straighten her back and move over to stand in front of Anna once again. 

The angel believes that she'll succeed, so she's damn well going to succeed. 

' _Adrapan akele, lrs ami upaah, ds biab un agiod_.' Jo says, hoping and praying that's she's pronouncing everything correctly, but when the blood sigils drawn over Anna's pale skin starts to glow, she guesses that she said everything correctly. 

She raises the blade, ready to make the incision, when she ends up being thrown away from Anna. She crashes against the wall of the church, the blade falling from her hands as she crumples on the floor with a grunt. 

Her eyes snap over to Anna, but her gaze is blocked by a figure in front of her and her brown eyes slowly trail up the curves of the woman in front of her, before they land on the woman's face. 

When she sees the face, Jo's eyes widen and she scurries back against the wall, her hand trying reach for the angel blade but it's suddenly kicked away from her with a cruel chuckle. 

'No, no, darling, you know that's not how this is going to work.' 

Jo shakes her head, her eyes flickering over to Anna, who's still sitting on the seat, the blood over her skin still glowing bright and her eyes are still firmly shut. 

' _How_?' Jo whispers as the woman leans down, her eyes pitch black as they meet Jo's. 'How are you here?' 

Amy chuckles as her black eyes disappear, showing the brown orbs of her vessel. 

'Because you're not that bright, my dear. Did you really think I'd meet you with the founding members of Team Free Will behind you? There's such a thing as decoys, my love.' 

Amy picks up Anna's blade before Jo can even force herself to stand up, but when she notices just what the demon's target is, she lets out a shout and pushes to her feet. 

She runs, despite the fact the whole room is spinning before her and there's a loud ringing, as if she's stuck in the church's steeple, but Amy is heading for Anna… poor, defenceless Anna who's unconscious because of the spell she trusted Jo to succeed with. 

How can you trust someone who was sentenced to Hell?

She sees Amy raise the blade, sees her slash it through the air but she jumps and tackles her to the ground a moment later, unable to stop the feeling of relief that washes through her when she hears the angel blade clatter to the ground, having escaped Amy's grasp. 

Jo looks over her shoulder, hoping to see a harm-free Anna, in order to let the feeling of relief really grow. 

However, instead of growing, it disappears altogether when she sees a silvery-blue, gas-like substance seep out of an incision in Anna's neck; an incision that Amy obviously managed to make before Jo could get to her and stop her. 

'No.' Jo whispers, as she watches it flurry up in the air, spiralling like an icicle to the top of the church. She almost thinks it's going to seep out the the cracks in the ceiling, but it doesn't. Instead it just spreads itself out, covering it like a blanket as it continues to envelop the room. 

It doesn't take long before the room is engulfed in the grace and Jo can feel a warmth spread through her, a warmth that reminds her of that moment Anna appeared before her in Hell and told her everything was going to be okay; that she was saved. 

She vaguely notices Amy scurry over to the table, tipping it over and pulling it so she's protected against the grace. 

When the whole room is finally enveloped, Anna's grace begins to pulse, growing dimmer and lighter, slowly at first, but then the pulsing begins to speed up, until it's spending more time being bright and less time being dim. And just before the entire room explodes in light, shattering the windows and engulfing it in a warm heat, Jo manages to slam her eyes shut.

She doesn't know how long she sits there, it could be seconds, it could be hours, but when Jo feels the warmth leave her face; the brightness disappear from behind her eyelids, she finally reopens her eyes. She has to blink once or twice, readjusting to the darkness of the room once more, after having been blown bright with Anna's grace. 

Her eyes dart over to the chair that Anna was previously bound to, only to find it empty. No-one sits there and as Jo's gaze stays focused on it, she realises that there's no evidence of Anna ever being there. 

Not until Jo tears her eyes away from the seat and looks towards the ground near the chair to find the vial that they had chosen to contain her grace. It's full to the brim with blue light, swirling and twirling within its confines and with a frown on her face, Jo stands. 

She stumbles towards it and when she's close enough, she leans down and grabs ahold of the vial, pulling it up from the ground so she can hold it close to her face. 

Jo chokes, her eyes falling shut as her hand tightens around the vial, clinging to the glass like a lifeline. 

When she reopens her eyes, once she's sure she's fought back the tears threatening to fall, they trail over the elegant chain attached to the vial. 

Her hands are shaking when she readjusts them so she can pull the chain over her head, letting it rest around her neck and she looks down at the glowing vial. 

She's soon distracted from her thoughts, however, when a familiar, harsh laughter fills the silence. 

'Missing your angel, sweetie?' Amy taunts. 

Jo's jaw clenches, her teeth grinding together so hard that her head starts to ache, but she doesn't care. She knows that it won't be long before Dean and the others burst in, having seen the explosion of light. She knows that she's not got long to kill the bitch. 

'You did this.' Jo whispers as her hand moves away from the vial. She slowly rounds on Amy, moving closer and closer to the demon as she backs her into a corner. The taunting smirk doesn't fall off of Amy's face, even as Jo leans down and picks up the angel blade. 

'I can disappear with a click of my fingers.' Amy reminds, but Jo just smirks at that. 

'I've learnt a neat trick.' Jo declares, as she moves so she's standing directly in front of Amy, and when she sees Amy's vessel's mouth open, ready to expel the black smoke, Jo starts speaking again. ' _Nos audi, rogamus te, servire libertate facias tibi seccura tuam ecclesiam ut. Domine, nos lib era, diaboli insidiis ab… tremunt inferi quem… nominee terribili et sancto nobis a invacto,_ ' 

Jo watches with pleasure as the black smoke that had started to leave the woman's body is slowly forced back in and she tightens her head around the blade. 

She continues the incantation as she moves even closer to Amy, ' _effuge et contremisce; Dei manu potenti sub humiliare… salutis humanæ hostis fallaciæ omnis, magister et inventor, satana, vade… venemum perditionis æternæ eisque creaturas, humanas, decipere cessa… te adjuramus, diabolica legio omnis et mledicte draco, ergo… diabolica secta et congregatio omnis, legio omnis, adversarii infernalis incursio omnis, potestas satanica omnis.'_

Her voice grows louder and louder with each word, until she's shouting the words in Amy's face, watching as the vessel's eyes turn from brown to black again, unable to stop herself from revealing her true form; unable to stop her true form from pushing its way back down the poor woman's throat.

Jo will need to thank Sam for letting her in on this tip. 

' _Spiritus immundus omnis, te exorcizamus.'_

As soon as she's finished, she jerks her hand forward, plunging the blade deep within Amy's chest. She watches the tremors run through the demon's body, but she's not willing to believe them this time. She had believed those tremors before, she had believed that she had killed the real Amy the last time. 

Jo yanks the blade from Amy's chest, only to drive it back in a moment later, her hand coming up to grab ahold of Amy's shoulder so she can support herself as she continues this movement, pulling Anna's blade from the demon's chest, only to bury it deep inside once more. 

She's panting, breath fanning over the vessel's cold face, but she doesn't stop; can't seem to stop. The tremors have long disappeared, the orange light that shoots through the dying demon no longer appearing in shocks. 

Instead, blood continues to drip out of the chest, drenching Jo in it and causing her grip on the angel blade to loosen and slip. 

She still has no intention of stopping when two hands are suddenly on her shoulder, yanking her backwards and away from the body. She lets out a shout in protest, but her blood-soaked hands are to slippery to hold onto the blade any longer and it falls to the ground with a clatter. 

The body that Amy once possessed slumps to the ground but Jo doesn't get a chance to look at it again, for she's suddenly being turned around, her gaze now focusing on two green orbs and she knows who it is without needing to see anything else. 

'She's gone. She's dead.' She declares in defeat, before she falls forward and lets herself be enveloped by Dean's arms and warmth.  

 _~_ _o_ _OoOoOoOoOo~_

She doesn't know how two weeks managed to pass, mainly because it seemed like only yesterday she opened her eyes and saw that Anna had disappeared, leaving nothing but a vial of her grace behind. 

She thought that once Amy was gone; once Anna was human, her nightmares would stop because everything would be _perfect_. She should've known better. Her life doesn't allow perfection; her life doesn't understand the definition or what the big deal is about perfection. 

Now, whilst Amy is _finally_ dead - this time for sure, because Amy wouldn't pull that trick _twice_ , because of how boring that would be - she still can't have a perfect ending, because Anna is gone. 

The angel that pulled her from Hell; that etched a special mark into her soul and made herself irreplaceable simply vanished when she tried to help her remove her grace. 

She shouldn't have been stupid enough to even try and help Anna with that. She was a human, what did she know about angels and their grace? She probably said something wrong or wrote the sigils out wrong, and that lead to Anna disappearing… to Anna _dying_. 

Tears start to sting her eyes as that thought pops into her mind. It's definitely not the first time she's realised this, but it's the first time it's came into her head whilst she's been driving. 

With a shaky exhale, she reaches up and wipes her hand over her eyes, trying to rid herself of the tears. 

However, as she lowers her hand onto the steering wheel once more, she sees a familiar sight. The road that she had stolen the crappy Ford from… which means… as she continues to drive down the road, her eyes can't help but widen when she realises just where she has found herself. 

On the side of the road is the field where she first woke up when Anna pulled her from Hell.

Before she can even think about it, she's pulling over to the other side of the road, not caring if she's blocking the road by how squint she's parked. It's not like she's using the Impala, where Dean would literally kill her if she hurt his baby… this was just a cheap thing she picked up to get from A to B without relying on Dean. If it got banged, she really didn't care. 

As soon as the car is stopped, she shoves the door open as soon as it's open. She walks over to the fence and places her hand on the wooden slate that holds the barbed wire up. She looks out to the grass before inhaling deeply, taking in the smell of the grass that's been freshly coated with rain. 

It takes only a moment of consideration before she is bracing herself on the wooden post, and is jumping over the wire. She lands in the grass with a soft thud, her boots squelching in the drenched soil. 

Dirt and water splatters against her bare legs, and if she knew she was going to be making this side trip, she would've worn jeans instead of shorts. But it was warm and she was just going on a _drive_ to take her mind off Anna… lot of good that did. 

She starts to walk to the centre of the field, not entirely sure just where she's aiming or what her destination is. It's been a long time since she was first in this field, having been brought back from Hell, surely there should be no evidence of her ever being here. 

But as she stumbles over something, causing her to trip and fall to the ground, a gasp is suddenly wrenched from her lips as she looks around herself. 

There's a large circle from where, she presumes, she woke up. There's not one single blade of grass inside the circle, yet at the very edge of the soil, there's flowers; flowers that shouldn't be growing in the middle of a field. Red roses, white lilies, pink carnations, yellow daffodils. Flowers upon flowers, spreading only a few metres past the circle of soil, before it flows back into normal grass. 

'That's not normal.' She murmurs as her hand reaches out and touches the soil with her fingertips. It's dry beneath her touch, which it shouldn't be, seeing as the soil at her feet is drenched in water from the rain last night. 

As soon as her fingertips come in contact with the ground, something shoots through her, travelling right up her arm all the way to her chest, the warmth settling in her chest, just under the vial of Anna's grace. 

Another gasp breaks free and Jo's hand shoots up to grab ahold of the vial resting against her chest. She tugs it out from under her tank top and as soon as she can, she wraps her fingers around it, trying her hardest not to let any of the tears that are stinging her eyes fall. 

Jo's not sure how long she stays there, one hand enclosed around the only thing left of Anna that she has, and the other extended out, resting on the soil where it all began. She's soon brought back to reality, though, when she hears the faintest of noises coming from behind her. 

Her eyes shoot open and she stills, straining her ears as she concentrates on the sound. 

It comes again, the faint rustle of grass being brushed aside by someone's feet. It grows louder and louder, as whoever it is comes closer and closer to her. 

As discreetly as she can, Jo pulls her pocket knife out and flips it open. She takes a deep breath in when she hears the sound directly behind her, and with a strong exhale, she pushes herself to her feet as she turns around to face the attacker. 

Only, the second she sees who it is, her grasp loosens on her knife and it falls to the ground, the leaves of a calla lily capturing it as it lands. 

'Anna?'

Jo doesn't even seem to hesitate or think it through, she practically throws herself at Anna, wrapping her arms around the redhead's neck as she presses her lips against hers in a warm kiss. 

When her brain finally seems to catch up with her, she realises that everything is all right and mutual, for Anna's arms are around her waist, holding her tight as her lips move against hers, moulding against them so perfectly. 

Jo also realises that they need to talk about a million things, but that they also don't need to do that right now. She's just so glad to see the former-angel again, that she's one hundred percent positive that any talking they have to do will most definitely wait until they are done here. 

Jo's hand entwine themselves in Anna's fiery hair as Anna's hands start to rub circles on Jo's back, though as their kiss grows in passion and Jo finally breaks Anna's lips apart and licks her way inside, the gentle touches soon turn to her clawing at Jo's shirt and back, leaving big, red scratches against the bare skin she can reach.

Anna's hand trails down to the hem of Jo's vest top, and she breaks away from their kiss so she can tug it harshly over Jo's head, throwing it over her shoulder with no care where it lands, for Jo pulls her back against her and presses their lips together. 

Jo's hands leave Anna's hair then, moving to the front of Anna's shirt and she's suddenly thankful that she wore a shirt with buttons, because she really doesn't want to break away from her soft lips in order to remove her clothing. 

She makes quick work of the buttons, freeing each one before she slips it off Anna's shoulders, guiding it down her soft arms and with a flick of Anna's wrists, it falls to the ground with a soft flutter. 

They both groan when they move even closer to each other, grinding their newly exposed skin together as the kiss grows in passion. 

Hardened nipples grind together, soft breasts mould and press against with the other's, and their kiss becomes more breathy as sparks of pleasure start to shoot through them both. 

Jo's hands are the first to make their way downwards towards Anna's pants, and after only pulling back briefly to make sure this is okay with Anna, she cements her lips to Anna's again and pops the button on her jeans before she pulls the zipper down. 

She thinks about just tugging Anna's pants down, leaving her standing only in her panties, but when Anna's tongue flicks against hers in a way that's downright sinful, Jo decides she's waited long enough. The next time they can tease and tease until they're writhing on the bed, but now, they just need relief; they just need to see this through. 

Jo hooks her fingers in Anna's panties and tugs both them and her jeans over her gorgeous hips. Anna needs to wiggle a little so they fall over her thighs and pool at her feet, but she doesn't step out of them just yet, not until she's got Jo's loose and falling down over her legs too. 

They both break apart then, so they can step out of their jeans and with a breath to calm herself from the wild lust shooting through her, Jo then lowers herself on the dry soil, in the very space that she woke up in when she was pulled from Hell. 

Anna follows her only a moment later, sliding herself over Jo's slim and elegant body. Her hand trails down her sides, before she pulls Jo's leg wider to the side. She slots her thigh between Jo's legs, moving the other one of Jo's legs so it’s positioned perfectly against Anna's cunt. 

She gives an experimental circle of her hips, a sigh breaking free from her lips as Jo's thigh provides the perfect friction against her clit, and judging by the soft moan that breaks free from Jo's lips, she's feeling what Anna is feeling. 

Anna readjusts herself just a little as she rests her arms on either side of Jo's head, just so she can press her lips to Jo's again. Their breath mingles in a quiet moan as they both start to circle their hips, grinding into each other as they both find a rhythm that compliments each other's moves; so that when Anna pulls away, Jo is pushing up. 

Heat starts to encompass them both, spreading from the very tip of their fingertips and settling at their core.

Their breaths start coming out sharp and short, no longer kissing as much, merely pressing their lips to the other and sharing each other's breath; swallowing the other's moan. 

' _Anna_.' Jo breathes softly as the pressure starts to build, her hips no longer in sync with Anna's. Instead, they jerk wildly, desperately trying to get more friction, more heat, more wetness. 

'Let it go.' Anna replies as she tries to guess what Jo's next thrust will be, so she can offer the amount of relief for her and it doesn't take long before Jo's hands fly to Anna's arms, gripping on tight as she comes with a long, drawn out moan, her head lolling backwards as she slams her eyes shut. 

Her hips jerk through the aftershocks, as Anna still grinds against her, riding towards the cliff and both their toes curl when Anna falls off the edge, coming with a soft gasp before she collapses on top of Jo's body, her head finding its way onto Jo's chest. 

They're not sure how long they lie there for, basking in the warm afterglow of it all, but after a while, Jo reaches up and starts to trail her hands through Anna's hair, smiling down at her head that's resting on her chest, her arm wound tight around Jo's waist. 

'You're going to come back to the bunker with me, right?' Jo whispers, not wanting to ruin the perfect feeling of the moment. It feels weird, to be naked on the dry soil that marked the area where she was brought back from Hell to… but it also feels, _right_ , and she doesn't want to ruin that topsy-turvy feeling. 

'Of course I am.' Anna replies, her voice equally as quiet as she lifts her head to look Jo in the eye. She reaches out and trails her fingers across Jo's cheekbones, before trailing them down the column of her neck.

Her hand then wraps around the small vial glowing blue with her old grace. 

'You kept it safe for me.' Anna whispers, her eyes watching the spiralling and swirling grace. It doesn't seem to be trying to break free and it looks almost _content_ to be confined to the small glass vial. 

Jo places her hand over Anna's that's still holding the vial, as the other one comes up and cups Anna's face, pulling her closer and pressing her lips to Anna's in a soft kiss. 

And if Dean notices the grass in their hair, when they finally get back to the bunker after getting dressed and leaving the field, he doesn't say anything… though he does grin and send Jo a teasing wink.

**THE END.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


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